29th August 2026

NAMM’s former President and CEO, Larry Linkin, passed away peacefully this week. Link served as NAMM’s President and CEO from 1980 to 2001, led the association through a remarkable period of growth, and from our perspective he also cultivated a close relationship between our associations that continues to this day.Former AMA Executive Officer Rob Walker paid tribute:

“Larry was an iconic President and CEO of NAMM – he was a great friend to the AMA. And he was a great music man.

Larry invited the AMA to present at it’s Global Economic Summit in 1995, cementing a relationship he had started in the early 90’s when we met him at the NAMM Show, usually along with the NAMM Chairman. This extended to Larry attending our first AMAC Convention as keynote speaker in 1999. This aligned with NAMM’s focus toward the international industry and taking the leadership role. He sent the NAMM Chairs to our AIMS Shows in 90’s and hosted us at NAMM.

There are plenty of plenty of tributes out there that highlight his achievements – but I especially wanted to acknowledge that he was a friend and supporter of the AMA over the years and paved the way for this relationship to prosper to this day. He was a tremendous advocate for making music and music education. As he would sign his correspondence: Whoelsebut, Link.”