Ronald Leon Rakow or Ron Rakow was the head of

Grateful Dead Records In 1973, the Grateful Dead established their own record label, Grateful Dead Records. The band released four vinyl LPs on the label in the mid-1970s: ''Wake of the Flood'' in 1973, '' From the Mars Hotel'' in 1974, ''Blues for Allah'' in 1975, ...

and Round Records, and was manager of

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

Early life

Ron was born in Brooklyn, New York. He studied Economics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree. He started his career as a runner on the New York Stock exchange floor and eventually was an arbitrageur and did corporate mergers and acquisitions for various corporations in New York City.

Grateful Dead

Around 1965 Ron moved to San Francisco and started a small loans business called Guaranteed Factors. Not long after, he loaned money to the Grateful Dead to buy equipment and quickly joined as a photographer and later the band manager. During that time, he lived across from the street from the band at 715 Ashbury street. In March 1972, Ron came up with the idea for Grateful Dead Records and Round Records and worked with Jerry Garcia to develop the business plan known as the 'So What Papers'. In July 1972, he was invited to

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

's house to present the initial idea to the band. In April 1973, the plan was finally approved and Grateful Dead Records and Round Records was born. The labels went on to produce four of the bands records between 1973-1976.

Filmography

Ron was also the executive producer and appears in the 1977 documentary film,

The Grateful Dead Movie ''The Grateful Dead Movie'', released in 1977 and directed by Jerry Garcia, is a film that captures live performances from rock band the Grateful Dead during an October 1974 five-night run at Winterland Ballroom, Winterland in San Francisco, Cali ...

Legal Troubles

On April 11, 2007, Rakow was sentenced to five years in federal prison for

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

of $2.2 million since 1985 from income unrelated to his relationship with The Grateful Dead.' On December 1, 2011, Rakow was released from prison.

References

Grateful Dead Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakow, Ronald Leon Grateful Dead de:Grateful Dead Records