Robert Nemiroff, 61, Champion Of Lorraine Hansberry's Works
Robert B. Nemiroff, a Broadway producer who championed the works of Lorraine Hansberry and who won a 1974 Tony Award for the musical "Raisin," based on the playwright's "Raisin in the Sun," died yesterday at Tisch Hospital, New York University Medical Center. He was 61 years old and lived in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
He died of cancer, said his wife, Jewell Handy Gresham.
Mr. Nemiroff married Miss Hansberry in 1953. Although they divorced in 1962, they continued a close partnership. When Miss Hansberry died of cancer at 34 in 1965, Mr. Nemiroff became her literary executor and devoted his career to making her works widely known.
Born in New York City, Mr. Nemiroff was a book editor and publishing executive, then a music publisher and songwriter before becoming involved in the theater during the writing and production of "A Raisin in the Sun," Miss Hansberry's 1959 play about a black Chicago family.
He was a co-producer for her "Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," which opened to mixed reviews in 1964. After her death, Mr. Nemiroff led a struggle to win a place for the work in American drama. His account of that effort, "The 101 'Final' Performances of Sidney Brustein," appears in published editions of the play.
Drawing on Miss Hansberry's writings to dramatize her life, Mr. Nemiroff put together "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," which was produced Off Broadway in 1969. The show, taken from her plays, a novel, letters, speeches, essays and works in progress, later toured major cities and hundreds of colleges, and has been recorded, filmed, televised and translated into 34 languages.
Mr. Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg adapted "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" and included music, and the show ran briefly on Broadway in 1972. "Raisin" also was a Nemiroff-Zaltzberg collaboration.
Mr. Nemiroff also adapted Miss Hansberry's play "Les Blancs," which ran briefly on Broadway in 1970. In 1988, he was the executive producer of an American Playhouse production of "A Raisin in the Sun" on PBS.
His own dramatization, "Postmark Zero," based on letters by German soldiers in Stalingrad during World War II, had a brief run on Broadway in 1965, and was later presented on television and in London. He also was co-author of "Kicks and Company," an Oscar Brown musical.
Besides his wife, whom he married in 1967, he is survived by a daughter, Joi Gresham-Conant of Amherst, Mass.; a brother, Leo, of Croton-on-Hudson, and two grandchildren.
New York Times
Published: July 19, 1991
Robert B. Nemiroff, a Broadway producer who championed the works of Lorraine Hansberry and who won a 1974 Tony Award for the musical "Raisin," based on the playwright's "Raisin in the Sun," died yesterday at Tisch Hospital, New York University Medical Center. He was 61 years old and lived in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
He died of cancer, said his wife, Jewell Handy Gresham.
Mr. Nemiroff married Miss Hansberry in 1953. Although they divorced in 1962, they continued a close partnership. When Miss Hansberry died of cancer at 34 in 1965, Mr. Nemiroff became her literary executor and devoted his career to making her works widely known.
Born in New York City, Mr. Nemiroff was a book editor and publishing executive, then a music publisher and songwriter before becoming involved in the theater during the writing and production of "A Raisin in the Sun," Miss Hansberry's 1959 play about a black Chicago family.
He was a co-producer for her "Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," which opened to mixed reviews in 1964. After her death, Mr. Nemiroff led a struggle to win a place for the work in American drama. His account of that effort, "The 101 'Final' Performances of Sidney Brustein," appears in published editions of the play.
Drawing on Miss Hansberry's writings to dramatize her life, Mr. Nemiroff put together "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," which was produced Off Broadway in 1969. The show, taken from her plays, a novel, letters, speeches, essays and works in progress, later toured major cities and hundreds of colleges, and has been recorded, filmed, televised and translated into 34 languages.
Mr. Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg adapted "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" and included music, and the show ran briefly on Broadway in 1972. "Raisin" also was a Nemiroff-Zaltzberg collaboration.
Mr. Nemiroff also adapted Miss Hansberry's play "Les Blancs," which ran briefly on Broadway in 1970. In 1988, he was the executive producer of an American Playhouse production of "A Raisin in the Sun" on PBS.
His own dramatization, "Postmark Zero," based on letters by German soldiers in Stalingrad during World War II, had a brief run on Broadway in 1965, and was later presented on television and in London. He also was co-author of "Kicks and Company," an Oscar Brown musical.
Besides his wife, whom he married in 1967, he is survived by a daughter, Joi Gresham-Conant of Amherst, Mass.; a brother, Leo, of Croton-on-Hudson, and two grandchildren.
New York Times
Published: July 19, 1991
Robert Nemiroff, 61, Champion Of Lorraine Hansberry's Works
Robert B. Nemiroff, a Broadway producer who championed the works of Lorraine Hansberry and who won a 1974 Tony Award for the musical "Raisin," based on the playwright's "Raisin in the Sun," died yesterday at Tisch Hospital, New York University Medical Center. He was 61 years old and lived in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
He died of cancer, said his wife, Jewell Handy Gresham.
Mr. Nemiroff married Miss Hansberry in 1953. Although they divorced in 1962, they continued a close partnership. When Miss Hansberry died of cancer at 34 in 1965, Mr. Nemiroff became her literary executor and devoted his career to making her works widely known.
Born in New York City, Mr. Nemiroff was a book editor and publishing executive, then a music publisher and songwriter before becoming involved in the theater during the writing and production of "A Raisin in the Sun," Miss Hansberry's 1959 play about a black Chicago family.
He was a co-producer for her "Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," which opened to mixed reviews in 1964. After her death, Mr. Nemiroff led a struggle to win a place for the work in American drama. His account of that effort, "The 101 'Final' Performances of Sidney Brustein," appears in published editions of the play.
Drawing on Miss Hansberry's writings to dramatize her life, Mr. Nemiroff put together "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," which was produced Off Broadway in 1969. The show, taken from her plays, a novel, letters, speeches, essays and works in progress, later toured major cities and hundreds of colleges, and has been recorded, filmed, televised and translated into 34 languages.
Mr. Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg adapted "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" and included music, and the show ran briefly on Broadway in 1972. "Raisin" also was a Nemiroff-Zaltzberg collaboration.
Mr. Nemiroff also adapted Miss Hansberry's play "Les Blancs," which ran briefly on Broadway in 1970. In 1988, he was the executive producer of an American Playhouse production of "A Raisin in the Sun" on PBS.
His own dramatization, "Postmark Zero," based on letters by German soldiers in Stalingrad during World War II, had a brief run on Broadway in 1965, and was later presented on television and in London. He also was co-author of "Kicks and Company," an Oscar Brown musical.
Besides his wife, whom he married in 1967, he is survived by a daughter, Joi Gresham-Conant of Amherst, Mass.; a brother, Leo, of Croton-on-Hudson, and two grandchildren.
New York Times
Published: July 19, 1991
Robert B. Nemiroff, a Broadway producer who championed the works of Lorraine Hansberry and who won a 1974 Tony Award for the musical "Raisin," based on the playwright's "Raisin in the Sun," died yesterday at Tisch Hospital, New York University Medical Center. He was 61 years old and lived in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
He died of cancer, said his wife, Jewell Handy Gresham.
Mr. Nemiroff married Miss Hansberry in 1953. Although they divorced in 1962, they continued a close partnership. When Miss Hansberry died of cancer at 34 in 1965, Mr. Nemiroff became her literary executor and devoted his career to making her works widely known.
Born in New York City, Mr. Nemiroff was a book editor and publishing executive, then a music publisher and songwriter before becoming involved in the theater during the writing and production of "A Raisin in the Sun," Miss Hansberry's 1959 play about a black Chicago family.
He was a co-producer for her "Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," which opened to mixed reviews in 1964. After her death, Mr. Nemiroff led a struggle to win a place for the work in American drama. His account of that effort, "The 101 'Final' Performances of Sidney Brustein," appears in published editions of the play.
Drawing on Miss Hansberry's writings to dramatize her life, Mr. Nemiroff put together "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," which was produced Off Broadway in 1969. The show, taken from her plays, a novel, letters, speeches, essays and works in progress, later toured major cities and hundreds of colleges, and has been recorded, filmed, televised and translated into 34 languages.
Mr. Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg adapted "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" and included music, and the show ran briefly on Broadway in 1972. "Raisin" also was a Nemiroff-Zaltzberg collaboration.
Mr. Nemiroff also adapted Miss Hansberry's play "Les Blancs," which ran briefly on Broadway in 1970. In 1988, he was the executive producer of an American Playhouse production of "A Raisin in the Sun" on PBS.
His own dramatization, "Postmark Zero," based on letters by German soldiers in Stalingrad during World War II, had a brief run on Broadway in 1965, and was later presented on television and in London. He also was co-author of "Kicks and Company," an Oscar Brown musical.
Besides his wife, whom he married in 1967, he is survived by a daughter, Joi Gresham-Conant of Amherst, Mass.; a brother, Leo, of Croton-on-Hudson, and two grandchildren.
New York Times
Published: July 19, 1991
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