Decibel is deeply saddened to report the passing of Eric Greif, the extreme metal entertainment lawyer and former manager of Death and president of Perseverance Holdings Ltd., which oversees Chuck Schuldiner’s estate, at the age of 59. Greif, a longtime diabetic, was in the midst of a harrowing five-year search for a kidney donor to save his life.
It’s difficult to remember now, but in the early-to-mid 2000s Death and Schuldiner’s legacy was fading. Much of the Death catalog was no longer in print, as the publishing rights to classic records like Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy was tied up with major labels, who absorbed the Combat Records back catalog years earlier, and showed little to no interest in releasing the material. Greif stepped in and acquired the rights to nearly every Death full-length and then began a decade-long relationship with Relapse Records, reissuing definitive versions of the entire Death catalog (except Symbolic) with the respect and care that the recordings so richly deserved.
Decibel sends our love to Eric’s family, the extended members of the Death family and everyone in the death metal scene who Eric positively impacted over the years. You were the personification of perseverance, Eric; may you finally rest easy.
