Lee Eastman (born Leopold Vail Epstein; January 12, 1910 – July 30, 1991) was an American

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

lawyer and art collector from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.NYTimes obituary
retrieved March 21, 2010 One of his four children was

Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...

, the first wife of former

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band in Western popular ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. Eastman became McCartney's

business manager The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company". Compare manager. Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...

shortly before the breakup of The Beatles, while his son John Eastman represented McCartney during his 1970 lawsuit to dissolve the group legally. He is the maternal grandfather of potter Heather McCartney, photographer

Mary McCartney Mary Anna McCartney (born 28 August 1969) is an English photographer, documentary filmmaker, plant-based and vegetarian cookbook author, and activist. She is the Global Ambassador for Meat Free Monday. Early life Mary Anna McCartney was born ...

, fashion designer

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...

, and musician/sculptor James McCartney. Eastman was also the friend and longtime lawyer for and collector of the works of the

abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

painter

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...

. His sister Rose Frisch became a noted scientist who worked on issues of women's fertility and population studies.Pam Belluck, "Rose E. Frisch, Scientist Who Linked Body Fat to Fertility, Dies at 96"
''New York Times'', February 11, 2015; accessed September 25, 2018 His family was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Involvement with Apple Corps

When the Beatles' company

Apple Corps Apple Corps Limited is a British multimedia company that was established in London by the members of the Beatles in the 1960s to form a Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company's name, pronounced "apple core", is a pun. Its chief div ...

was in business trouble early in 1969, Eastman and

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...

were both considered to take the reins of the company, and of the band's careers.

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

favoured Klein. Lennon was impressed that Klein knew and understood Lennon's lyrics, and called Klein very intelligent. McCartney wanted Eastman, but was out-voted 3–1, as

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

and

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

sided with Lennon and Klein. For a short period, Klein managed Apple Corps and the personal careers of Lennon, Harrison, and Starr while Eastman was the corporate counsel and managed McCartney. The Klein/Eastman combination did not work, and after a contentious meeting, Eastman was out. Subsequent disagreements over decisions made by Klein and the other Beatles prompted McCartney — represented by Eastman — to sue them to dissolve the partnership, and he eventually succeeded. Klein made some successful deals for the Beatles, and they made more money during their short tenure with Klein than they had during the years they were managed by

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...

. Lennon, Harrison, and Starr eventually soured on Klein, and after a series of suits and countersuits, Klein left Apple Corps with a multimillion-dollar buyout.

Manager of McCartney

Eastman and his son successfully managed McCartney's solo career, leaving McCartney the wealthiest of the former Beatles. In 1984, McCartney cited one example of advice he received from Eastman: McCartney's music publishing investments have paid off. In 1984, he estimated that half his income came from recording, and half from his music publishing business.

Personal life

Eastman had four children with his first wife Louise Lindner, herself the daughter of a prominent

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

department store executive. Lindner died in a plane crash in 1962. He later remarried Monique de T. Schless. Eastman died of a stroke on July 30, 1991, in a

hospital; he was 81. His son John Eastman died on August 10, 2022, of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 83.John L. Eastman, McCartney’s Lawyer in Beatles’ Strife, Dies at 83
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastman, Lee Apple Corps 1910 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American lawyers McCartney family American music managers American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent 20th-century American musicians Lawyers from New York City