Samuel Stephen Yasgur (January 9, 1942 – June 23, 2016) was an American attorney and

Sullivan County, New York Sullivan County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,624. The county seat is Monticello. The county's name honors Major General John Sullivan, who was labeled at the time as a hero in th ...

official. He was the son of

Max Yasgur Max Bernard Yasgur (December 15, 1919 – February 9, 1973) was an American farmer. He was the owner of the dairy farm in Bethel, New York, where the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on August 15–18, 1969. He sold his farm in 1971 and ...

, who leased land on his

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

Bethel, New York Bethel is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 3,959 in 2020 United States census, 2020. The town received worldwide attention after it served as the locati ...

for the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in August 1969. Yasgur said that his "consultations with his father" played a crucial role in the concert coming to Bethel. He grew up on his father's farm, and was a graduate of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time facul ...

. Yasgur was a 27-year-old assistant district attorney in Manhattan when his father allowed the

Woodstock festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

to take place on his land. The concert had just been barred from taking place at the Orange County town of Wallkill, New York. The Woodstock Festival took place from August 15 to 18, 1969. Yasgur went on to become an attorney at Hall Dickler, and also served as

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

Attorney and Sullivan County Attorney. Yasgur wrote a book about his father, ''Max B. Yasgur: The Woodstock Festival’s Famous Farmer'', which was self-published in August 2009. Yasgur died in 2016 from bone

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

References

External links

Sullivan County Democrat: Those Who Shaped History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasgur, Sam 1942 births 2016 deaths American prosecutors Cornell University alumni New York (state) lawyers People from Bethel, New York People from Mamaroneck, New York People from Monticello, New York People from the Catskills University of Chicago Law School alumni American people of Russian-Jewish descent 20th-century American lawyers Deaths from cancer in New York (state)