Tower Records founder dies drinking whiskey, complaining about Oscars

Russ Solomon, the founder of Tower Records, died Sunday at age 92.

According to his son, Michael Solomon, the music store entrepreneur died while watching the Oscars and drinking whiskey.

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The Sacramento Bee reported that Russ Solomon died of a heart attack.

“Ironically, he was giving his opinion of what someone was wearing that he thought was ugly, then asked (his wife) Patti to refill his whiskey,” Michael Solomon, former chief executive of Tower, said.

He died by the time his wife came back with his drink.

CNN reported that Russ Solomon began his empire by selling records at his father's pharmacy in the 1950s. He opened the first Tower Records in 1960 in Sacramento, California. During the height of the demand for physical music, the business thrived across the world.

But by the late 1990s, music sharing sites like Napster drove business away from stores like Tower. By 2004, the company filed for bankruptcy and in 2006, it was liquidated.

The music community mourned Solomon’s loss on Twitter.

Cox Media Group