Saul Israel Holiff, 80; Promoter Managed Johnny Cash for 17 Years

Saul Israel Holiff, 80, a former concert promoter and Johnny Cash’s manager for 17 years, died March 17 in British Columbia, Canada, after years of declining health, his family said.

Holiff, who also managed Tommy Hunter and the Statler Brothers, served as a rear gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He had a fruit and vegetable business and dabbled in acting before becoming a concert promoter and manager with offices in Los Angeles and Nashville.

Holiff began working as Cash’s manager about 1960. “He didn’t start out to be Johnny Cash,” he recalled after Cash died in 2003. “Sometimes he sang dreadfully, if he had too much to drink or too many pills.”

As his material evolved, however, “suddenly he was another American hero,” Holiff said. He left Cash in 1973, when he thought the singer’s career had peaked. “I was guilty for underestimating him repeatedly.”