Biography
Born Ronald Stanley Kashinoff in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his family changed the name to Kass when they moved to California. Kass worked with at least four recording companies: {Liberty} MGM, Warner Brothers, and Apple Records. He attended Fairfax High Schoolin Los Angeles where he played in a band that became Tijuana Brass and then got a degree in accounting from UCLA.
Ron married his UCLA sweetheart, Anita, and started working for Liberty Records which was directly across from Hollywood High School. They had their first son David and then, promoted to overseas manager and eventually president of Liberty, moved to London while settling his family in Lugano, Switzerland, where they had two more sons, Roberto and Jonathan . Ron started working for Apple Records and divorced Anita who remained in Lugano with their children who later moved to the US as adults.
While heading Apple Records, the label set up by The Beatles, in 1968 and 1969. He was effectively forced from his position at Apple by the Beatles' new manager Allen Klein after he was falsely accused of "financial impropriety" (he was succeeded in the position by his former deputy Jack Oliver). His producing credits included Melody (1971), The Optimists (1973) starring Peter Sellers, Naked Yoga (1974) nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject, The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979) both based on novels by Jackie Collins and starring her sister Joan Collins.
In 1972 Kass married Joan Collins. They had a daughter, Katyana ("Katie"), born in 1972. Kass and Collins were divorced in 1983 but reportedly remained close. Collins provided for Kass's medical care during his battle with terminal cancer in addition to flying his sons from Switzerland to visit with their father. He died from cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age of 51 with Collins at his bedside.
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