Meadowbrook founder Robert Harding dies at age 66

Robert Harding, the man who founded Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center, the premier outdoor concert venue in New Hampshire, died on Tuesday night of cancer. He was 66.

Harding's son, R.J. — who had taken over management of the family business — said yesterday that he remembers his father as a man of grit, determination and one who never feared failure. He also remembers him as a man who was respected, and indeed loved, by many, even though Robert Harding was a man who "demanded things out of people," his son said, and was not a man who was afraid to take others to task. "He just had a way to do it," said R.J.

It took a man like Robert Harding to establish a concert venue and turn it into the state's best place for outdoor music in just over a decade. R.J. said, "He's the only one who could have done it. My father had this unbelievable no-quit attitude."

Meadowbrook started as something of an accident, said R.J. His father, who had a short stint with the military in his youth, had various careers as a tractor salesman in Connecticut, a successful businessman who worked for a computer company during the advent of personal computers, and as a condominium hotel developer in Maine. It was the last of these that brought him to Gilford.

R.J. said that his father, who was born in Brewer, Maine, had developed a condominium hotel in Wells, Maine, called Misty Harbor, when he and his business partner decided to build one in Gilford. The Hardings were running the Misty Harbor resort in Gilford, when the Meadowbrook property, then owned by the Miller family, became available for sale in 1994. They decided to buy the place because it was zoned for industrial use, and they feared that something like a concrete plant going in next door would ruin their investment in the neighboring hotel.

In 1996, the organizer of the Beatles tribute show "1964: the Tribute", who had been putting his shows on elsewhere, approached Robert Harding about holding the show at what was then known as Meadowbrook Farm.

Robert Harding agreed, and when he started looking at the costs of building the stage and arranging seating, he decided to spread the cost over a few shows. That year there were three shows: the Beatles tribute, Chubby Checker, and Johnny Cash.

Last year Meadowbrook's schedule boasted 29 shows, with most shows featuring multiple artists. Recently, the venue has added a "Second Stage," which features local artists who perform prior to the big names.

It may be hard to imagine a Lakes Region without Meadowbrook Performing Arts Center, but there were many years where Harding's book keepers might have encouraged him to seek safer investments. Although the list of artists, and the seating capacity, grew each year, R.J. Harding said the experiment didn't produce a profit until the 2002 season, after his father and other backers had invested millions of their dollars into Meadowbrook.

R.J. said his father used to joke that if you want to know what it's like to promote concerts, "you just go out into the backyard and put all your cash in a big pile and then pour lighter fluid on it."

Despite the fact that he had lost a considerable amount of money getting the business off the ground, R.J. said his father never lost the vision of what he thought Meadowbrook could be. He combined that with his son called a salesman's "silver tongue," and he shared that vision with his fellow investors and those who would become the venue's corporate sponsors.

"It is successful now, a tribute to his gumption," said R.J.

It was a success, but it came at a cost greater than dollars. R.J. said his father was "constantly working" on turning Meadowbrook into what it has become, to the extent that he didn't take the time to enjoy the luxuries that a successful business life could afford. That changed around Easter of 2007, when Robert Harding received the cancer diagnosis. The prognosis wasn't good; he wasn't expected to live to see the next Easter.

R.J. said the news of his terminal illness changed his father's outlook on life. Treatments were designed to extend Robert's days and add to his quality of life. He lived past the 12 months his doctors expected, and he lived to see the beginning of the 2008 concert season, which was a goal of his. In total, he lived 15 months after his initial diagnosis, and he made the best of the time he had left. "The diagnosis was almost a Godsend. Those 15 months were definitely quality time," said R.J. "He lived like he was dying."

He was feeling well in May, when Meadowbrook held its Annual Media Day, which usually features the summer's concert lineup as the central theme. This year, though, it was the venue's founder that was celebrated. R.J. presented his father with a granite plaque etched with his likeness, with the phrase "Rock On" inscribed. The likeness was from a photo of Harding, on stage, singing with the Beach Boys in the summer of 2007.

The plaque now hangs at the Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavillion stage.

Toward the end of his life, R.J. said his father was suffering, and as such it was with sadness and relief that his family watched him pass away. The son said he was grateful that his father was given warning of his death, so that he was able to take the time to "count his blessings." In accordance with Robert's wishes, the family held a living wake on June 1 at Meadowbrook, which was attended, R.J. said, by a "Who's Who" in the concert circuit, and the event was covered by the Boston Globe.

Robert Harding leaves behind his wife, Eileen, two sons, a daughter, two stepsons, 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, three brothers and two sisters. He was a resident of Gilford for 25 years.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, July 11 at 11 a.m. at the Center Stage Cafe at Meadowbrook.

Harding's obituary can be read on page 21.