Born London, February 25, 1925.
Died London May 3, 2008, aged 83.
Despite being awkward with ball, bat, club and racket, and unable to sing in tune, Michael Kaye reached the highest echelons of classical music, arts and sport, as he introduced sponsorship of the arts into Britain.
Born in Bow, East London, he attended West Ham Secondary School. Despite leaving at 14, his inquiring, inventive and retentive mind made him a self-taught polymath.
His introduction to opera in Naples, while serving in the Second World War in REME, followed by the Intelligence Corps from 1943-47, triggered a life-long passion for music.
His early working years were spent in journalism and public relations. In 1961 he joined the mighty Carreras Rothman tobacco company, run by the Afrikaner Rupert family.
He initiated and developed a wide-ranging programme of sports sponsorship, covering cricket, tennis, polo and football, as part of the company’s corporate public relations.
Extending the project to music, visual arts and education, he was asked to form the now defunct Peter Stuyvesant Foundation. Its early projects included funding the New Generation shows at the Whitechapel Gallery, where he was a director for some years.
As a result, accompanied by his second wife, Fay Bercovitch — his first marriage was dissolved in 1960 — he became a regular at Lords, Wimbledon and Windsor Great Park.
They were made honorary members of the Guards Polo Club — a far cry from Michael’s only previous club, the Ivri Jewish Youth Club which he chaired in the 1950s —- as well as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne and art galleries.
He held auditions for Peter Stuyvesant scholarships for young opera singers and ran the Rupert Foundation’s International Young Conductors Competitions. He was a director of the foundation, the chairman’s personal charitable trust.
A major beneficiary was the London Symphony Orchestra. In 1976 he accepted its invitation to be managing director and enjoyed four exciting years, working closely with the principal conductors, all the while honing his skills and gaining recognition and respect in the classical music field.
This led seamlessly to his appointment in 1980 as arts director and general administrator of the South Bank concert halls and the historic houses, such as Kenwood, owned by the Greater London Council.
From 1983-92 he was general administrator of the Young Concert Artists Trust and from 1984-94 directed the popular City of London Festival. The praise heaped on him by the Dean of St Paul’s at his final concert in the cathed-ral elicited the remark: “If only my booba could have been here to see this.”
His so-called retirement in 1994 saw him busy as chairman -— or saviour, according to some colleagues -— of the Bath Mozartfest, which was revived and flourished under him. Ill health forced him to step down in 2001 but he remained active as trustee and board member until his last days.
Known as a “gentleman manager”, he treated every artist equally, whether established celebrity or struggling newcomer. He was admired for his helpfulness, kindness and empathy.
He was the same man, whether greeting royalty at the Festival Hall or dealing with his staff. He quietly supported several charitable institutions. In 1990 he was appointed OBE.
He loved his Jewish way of life and was a council member of the Centre for the Study of Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations.
He is survived by his wife, Fay; and daughter, Ann, from his first marriage.
