Sam Ash (born Samuel Ashkynase) was a violinist, teacher, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the Sam Ash Music Store.

Life and career

Early life

Ashkynase was born to Moishe and Mottle Ashkynase in a small town in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

on August 21, 1897. In 1907 his family immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

., settling on Hopkinson Avenue in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. When Ash's father Morris became unemployed after contending with a

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

, he entered the workforce to help with his family's finances, working as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

as a cutter in the

garment industry Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment ...

. At the same time Ash was discovering that his true passion was playing the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. Ash began teaching music lessons and later formed the Sam Ash Orchestra, performing at weddings, dances, and

Jewish organizations Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

around the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area.

Marriage and Sam Ash Music Store

In August 1923 Sam met

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n immigrant Rose Dinin and 6 months later, on February 9, 1924, they married. Rose felt that the income from Sam's music career wasn't reliable, so they decided to start their own business. They pawned Rose's

engagement ring An engagement ring, also known as a betrothal ring, is a ring indicating that the person wearing it is engaged to be married, especially in Western cultures. A ring is presented as an engagement gift by a partner to their prospective spouse when ...

for $400 (she later got it back) in order to make the final downpayment to rent the building that would become the first Sam Ash Music Store. In 1925, their first son Jerry was born, followed in 1929 by their second son Paul, and finally their daughter Marcia in 1935, with the family living in a small 3-bedroom apartment behind the music store as they struggled to grow the business in the midst of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. As the economy began to recover their neighborhood was declining, so in 1944 they moved to another part of Brooklyn, buying a building on 236 Utica Avenue. Ash had already expanded his store's offerings beyond the initial assortment of sheet music, music instrument repairs, and phonographs. He began capitalizing on area school music programs by delivering sheet music and stocking a growing selection of band instruments. In the 1950s as

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

gained popularity, Ash was among the first stores in the area to add

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

brands like

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

and Fender. He also tasked son Paul with adding a record store, which at one point accounted for nearly half the store's overall revenue.

Death

On September 8, 1956, Sam died of a massive

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. Sam is buried alongside Rose in Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, New York.

Recognition

Sam Ash was inducted into the

Long Island Music Hall of Fame The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame was incorporated in July 2005 under the New York State Board of Regents, as a nonprofit organization and holds a provisional charter to operate as a museum in the state of New York. It recognizes ...

on October 15, 2006.

References

External links

Sam Ash - About Us
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ash, Sam 1897 births 1956 deaths Businesspeople from New York City People from Brownsville, Brooklyn People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Retail company founders 20th-century American businesspeople Burials at Beth David Cemetery Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States