Brian Witkin is an entertainment attorney and entrepreneur from Del Mar,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

as well as founder and CEO of Pacific Records, an independent record label based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. He is also a founding member of Hawaiian themed group, Slack Key Ohana. In 2005, at the age of 19, Witkin was featured in San Diego Magazine for young people to watch and in Feb. 2015 was named “Kickass Entrepreneur” in the San Diego Union Tribune Witkin is the son of Joe Witkin the original pianist for the band

Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll doo-wop group. Formed in 1969, but performing a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs, it simultaneously revived and parodied the music and the New York street culture of the 1950s. After ga ...

, and the grandson of

Evelyn M. Witkin Evelyn M. Witkin (born Evelyn Maisel; March 9, 1921) is an American geneticist who was awarded the National Medal of Science for her work on DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair. Research In 1944, Witkin spent the summer at Cold Spring Harbor Lab ...

an American geneticist who was awarded the National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush in 2002 for her work on DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair and the grandson of

Herman Witkin Herman A. Witkin (2 August 1916 – 8 July 1979) was an American psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work o ...

, an internationally known American psychologist and senior research scientist at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. Witkin is also the nephew of computer scientist

Andrew Witkin Andrew Paul Witkin (July 22, 1952 – September 12, 2010) was an American computer scientist who made major contributions in computer vision and computer graphics. Education Witkin studied psychology at Columbia College, Columbia University, for ...

Education

Witkin holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree (JD) from San Francisco Law School, Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) and Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) in history from National University in San Diego,

Pacific Records

In 1999 Witkin started "Real2Reel Records", which in 2003 was changed to Pacific Records, Inc. and became a division of Wingnut Media Group, Inc, based in Del Mar, California. In 2007, Pacific Records was then transferred to Georgi Entertainment, LLC and in 2009 Witkin purchased the company back under the holding company New Pacific Group, currently, Pacific Records, Inc. Pacific Records has evolved from its humble beginnings as a retail record store chain into a multi-dimensional entity that includes recording studios, engineering services, CD duplication, marketing and distributing. The primary focus remains as an independent record label and music publisher. Pacific Records current lineup includes: Grammy Honoree Lito Romero, Wes James, Super Groupie, Social Club, Sandollar, Sprung Monkey, Hilly Rubin, Steven Ybarra, A Mayfield Affair, Approaching Fiction, Jimmy & Enrique, Samantha Clemons, Jimmy Patton, Scott Bergman, Men and Gods and John Preston. The label maintains an active website found at www.PacificRecords.com Pacific Records was a division of the Warner Music Group, which was active in the late 1970s and distributed (appropriately) by Atlantic Records. Its most successful artist was

Alan O'Day Alan Earle O'Day (October 3, 1940 – May 17, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing " Undercover Angel," a million-selling Gold-certified American No. 1 hit in 1977. He also wrote songs for many other notab ...

which reached #9 on the Billboard Charts

Real estate

Since 2003, Witkin has been a licensed real estate broker in Southern California and a recipient of the UCSD Extension Professional Certification in Real Estate and founded his own brokerage firm in 2010.

Philanthropy & activism

Witkin serves as Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors for the Olivia Hudson Foundation, a non-profit 501-C3 company in San Diego, California which helps further pediatric brain cancer research and assist families of children with brain cancer by raising public awareness of the disease. Since 2010 Witkin has been a certified PADI Divemaster and in 2012, In efforts to support the ban of unprovoked slaughter of Great White Sharks Witkin founded ‘’Save The Great Whites’’ and became a volunteer as a NOAA Whale Disentanglement Team Member. Witkin is a board member of

National University (California) National University (NU) is a private university with its headquarters in San Diego, California. Founded in 1971, National University offers academic degree programs at campuses throughout California, a satellite campus in Nevada, and various pro ...

’s College of Letters and Sciences Advisory Board. National University is the second-largest private, non-profit institution of higher learning in California.

Photography

Witkin is a credited surf and environmental photographer for the

UT San Diego ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' a ...

San Diego Reader The ''San Diego Reader'' is an alternative press newspaper in the county of San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With ...

and Sol Spot.

Pilot

Since 2004, Witkin has been a certified and registered private pilot with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

Musician

Witkin has released music with several groups including the Warrior Finches and Cambrian Shores. In 2021 he co-founded the Hawaiian themed group, Slack Key Ohana, with musician Kamaka Mullen. Their debut self titled album, released in December 2021, won Best World Music Album at the 2022 San Diego Music Awards.

Journalism

In July 2021 Witkin began writing a semi-regular column, Music and the Law, for the monthly publication, The San Diego Troubadour.https://sandiegotroubadour.com/music-and-the-law-the-role-of-a-music-attorney/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witkin, Brian Record producers from California Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)