Martin 'Marty' Cohn

Martin Cohn, who grew up milking goats on his family's Forestville ranch, had an ear for music that later would help him recognize talent in a group of men from San Jose.

Cohn convinced Warner Bros. Records to give the band a contract, launching the Doobie Brothers on a four-decade career and starting his own career scouting new groups for the Burbank-based record label during the 60s and 70s.

"He took some songs, cut the demo tape, got them a record deal. That was something," said his brother, Bruce Cohn of Glen Ellen, who became the group's manager. "He did it many, many times."

Cohn died Thursday surrounded by his family after struggling with esophageal cancer for about a year. He was 62.

Cohn was born on March 23, 1949 to Sam and Eleanor Cohn in Chicago. His parents were professional singers and worked at the family's business, Four Cohn Shoes.

The Cohns moved to San Francisco in 1957 after a doctor suggested the air would be better for Cohn, who had asthma, his brother said.

The young brothers were thrust into country life a few years later when their father bought a Forestville ranch and they moved into a 100-year-old house with pot-bellied stoves.

"We milked 115 goats by hand," his brother said. "We'd get up at 4:30 a.m. and milk for two hours, eat breakfast, get on the school bus."

Cohn attended Herbert Slater Junior High School in Santa Rosa and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco.

He studied television and radio at the College of San Mateo. After graduating, Cohn worked with Channel 20 television station and ran a rehearsal hall at Howard and Third streets in San Francisco, now the site of the Moscone Center, where he began recording demos. That's where he met the Doobie Brothers.

During nearly 14 years with Warner Bros., Cohn would sign many acts, including Ricki Lee Jones, Nicolette Larson, Bruce Hornsby, Tower of Power and Graham Central Station.

He met his wife, Linda, on a scouting trip in Florida, his brother said. They married in 1970 and had a daughter, Lauren, who is now 30 years old.

Cohn and his brother's time on the ranch forged a deep friendship between the brothers, who would collaborate throughout their music careers and later with the Sonoma Valley-based B.R. Cohn Winery and Olive Oil Company.

"He was a born salesman," Cohn's brother said. "If he wasn't selling a band to a record label, he was selling my wine to a restaurant or a store."

The brothers lived in different houses on the same 90-acre Glenn Ellen ranch. Cohn moved into his brother's house about eight months ago when he became ill so his brother could care for him until his death.

In addition to his brother, Cohn is survived by his wife and daughter, who live in the Daytona Beach, Fla. area.

Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at Duggan's Mission Chapel on West Napa Street in Sonoma. He will be buried in Chicago with his parents.