Arnold Broido, 87; owned music publisher

Arnold Broido, 87, formerly of Bryn Mawr, a champion of the rights of composers and chairman of the Theodore Presser Co., a leading publisher of symphonic and concert music, died of heart failure Oct. 25 at the Quadrangle in Haverford.

Mr. Broido had been a piano prodigy as a child. He intended to be a music teacher after his discharge from the Coast Guard in which, during World War II, he served aboard troop transports in the Pacific and was a member of the Coast Guard Band.

When no teaching jobs were available, he headed the stockroom at a music publishing company in New York. He worked in management positions for several publishers until becoming president of Theodore Presser in Bryn Mawr in 1962.

The 80-year-old company was then "in awful shape," he later told a reporter. He reduced costs and "hunkered down," he said. What saved the company, he said, was its 1970 acquisition of music publisher and distributor Elkan-Vogel, which gave Presser access to European publishers. Presser distributes catalogues for music publishers and sells and rents scores by composers living and dead.

Several years ago, Presser began making complete collections of printable scores available on compact discs. Mr. Broido told a reporter in 2000 that his company would have to adapt to changes in the industry, though he was concerned about how musicians would protect their property on the Internet. He saw similar problems when photocopy machines were introduced, he said. A music teacher making 30 copies of a Beethoven sonata was infringing on the copyright, he said.

Mr. Broido took legal action when necessary to protect his clients, said his son Tom, a former Presser executive, and the company won a substantial settlement from the producers of the film

Chariots of Fire

for using the English composer Hubert Parry's hymn "Jerusalem" without permission or payment.

Mr. Broido told a reporter he refused to grant licenses if serious music was "cheapened by inappropriate use."

He remained chairman of Presser after it was sold to Carl Fisher LLC in 2004.

Mr. Broido served on the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and was director and treasurer of the ASCAP foundation. He served on the boards of the National Music Publishers' Association and the Harry Fox Association, which represents music publishers, issuing licenses and collecting and distributing royalties.

A native of Long Island, Mr. Broido studied music at the Juilliard School and earned a bachelor's degree from Ithaca College.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 63 years, Lucy Tarshes Broido; sons Larry and Jeffrey; and three grandchildren.

The funeral was Oct. 30 at Bringhurst Funeral Home, followed by burial in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd. Coincidentally, Tom Broido said, his father was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery 82 years to the day after Theodore Presser was interred there.