Ross’ Friends Bid Farewell at Carnegie Hall : Memorial: Guests ranged from New York politicians to Hollywood heavyweights in a 2 1/2-hour tribute to the late Time Warner chairman.

From the opening strains of Natalie Cole singing “Unforgettable,” the family of the late Time Warner Chairman Steven J. Ross staged an extraordinary memorial Thursday at Manhattan’s famed Carnegie Hall, almost eight weeks after Ross’ death from cancer at 65.

The invited guests ranged from New York’s top politicians and Hollywood executives to schoolmates of Ross’ younger daughter, Nicole, who is still in elementary school. Martin Davis, the Paramount Communications chairman who unsuccessfully challenged the Time Warner merger in 1989, was in the audience as well.

Among the 16 speakers were film director Steven Spielberg, former New York Gov. Hugh Carey and longtime opera star Beverly Sills, who served as mistress of ceremony.

In the 2,000-plus audience: actor Clint Eastwood, actress Lauren Bacall and singer Paul Simon. Current and former New York Govs. Mario Cuomo and Carey sat side by side with New York Mayor David Dinkins and longtime Manhattan prosecutor Robert Morgenthau.

And from Los Angeles, studio executives included MCA President Sidney J. Sheinberg and Walt Disney Co. President Frank Wells. Letters of tribute were read from President Clinton, and former Presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Almost every speaker chronicled Ross’ compulsion to solve problems, bestow presents or, in the words of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, build bridges. At the height of the Democratic Convention at Madison Square Garden last summer, Jackson said, he received a telephone call from the ailing Ross urging him to bury his differences with Clinton.

Robert Daly, chairman of the Warner Bros. studio, described Ross’ habit of pressing boxes of Entenmann’s crumb cake on him each time he came to New York, after discovering the two men shared a liking for it. When Entenmann’s began distributing its product on the West Coast, Daly said it took nearly a year to break the news to Ross.

Manhattan lawyer Arthur Liman described his first meeting with Ross 30 years earlier, when he found the young company president deliberately sitting in a windowless office “so no other employee would feel slighted by location.”

And on what turned out to be Ross’ last day in his Manhattan office, before he underwent a year’s treatment for prostate cancer, Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin said he found Ross at his telephone, trying to help a young employee secure a scholarship--an employee he didn’t even know. Levin--the handpicked successor--said following in Ross’ footsteps would be the “most demanding assignment.”

Two of the most moving tributes came from Brazilian soccer star Pele and Japanese businessman Minoru (Jack) Murofushiri, who told stories of how they were won over by the genial, Brooklyn-bred Ross.

Murofushiri, chief executive of Itochu (formerly C. Itoh & Co.), described how he flew to New York at Ross’ invitation in August, 1990, for a two-hour meeting to explore ways the companies might work together. Ross--renowned for his endurance--kept the session going throughout the day, and then into the evening at his home. Murofushiri spoke feelingly of Ross’ hospitality, fine wine and the exchange of ideas that went past midnight. The following year, his company agreed to invest $500 million in a limited partnership with Time Warner.

Pele, in turn, told how Ross urged him to “think big” and set a role model for American children by coming to the United States to play soccer for the now-defunct New York Cosmos team, then controlled by Warner Communications. Ross urged Pele to stage clinics, and later counseled Pele to avoid acrimony in his divorce. On Thursday, Pele spoke thankfully of that advice, crediting Ross in part for a good relationship with his children and ex-wife.

In its 102-year history, Carnegie Hall has been the stage for more than 50 memorial services, but seldom for a corporate executive. Ross, however, was the man who acquired three key record companies in the 1960s, which ultimately made Time Warner a dominant force in music worldwide. Producer Quincy Jones, a longtime friend, served as musical director, while Natalie Cole sang twice, accompanied by a 30-plus piece orchestra. And at the end of the 2 1/2-hour service, Valerie Simpson sang “Wind Beneath My Wings” with backing from the Boys Choir of Harlem.