Using his mind’s eye, entertainment entrepreneur Ted Fass was so meticulous in staging headliner concerts and other events that many people had no idea he was blind.
That was the way he liked it, family and friends said.
His blindness fueled his determination to succeed in the sighted world, from his early career deejaying as Ted’s Disco on Wheels to his startup of the Long Island Bombers, a team of blind baseball players, family members said. He put talking chips into party invitations in 1989, before they became common in greeting cards, earning an award from the special events industry, they said. He named pieces of concert equipment — such as Irvin for a sound case — so he could precisely direct his staff on where to put what, they recounted.
“He was very, very creative because his disability made him think differently,” said daughter Rachel Betlyon of Huntington.
The Rockville Centre resident, head of Entertainment Unlimited by Ted Fass, died Sept. 11 at age 71.
He was 11 when a tumor cut off his optic nerve. His recovery and confidence was a testament to his parents, who researched what could be done for the blind and who allowed him to make decisions as a child, his family said.
Fass never wanted a guide dog and rarely used a cane, relying instead on friends and family as guides, those who knew him said.
When he was in high school preparing for college life, a blind school refused to admit him or provide help because he didn’t want to accept its rules, such as using a cane and not asking for help, his wife Gail Fass said.
In fact his favorite song was “My Way,” its lyrics written by Paul Anka, who Fass met as a boy when the singer was performing at Miami’s Fontainebleau Hotel, his wife said. The two kept in touch, and decades later, Fass would produce some of the singer’s concerts, she said.
Fass and his future wife met as students at the University of Miami, and after they married in 1975, they invested wedding funds into launching Ted’s Disco on Wheels. News and magazine coverage of the blind DJ attracted an elite clientele and helped launch his service into a multimillion-dollar business, his family said.
Fass also started Party Particulars, a helium balloon company with a Cedarhurst store and products in major supermarkets nationwide and party supply chains, and Ted Fass Productions, which organized events.
When he acquired Entertainment Unlimited in 1997, he grew the operation into a well-known talent booking business, his family said. He produced concerts for icons such as the Beach Boys, Blood Sweat and Tears and Michael Bolton, the family said, and represented several music tribute acts.
He mounted numerous charity events for cancer relief, children’s hospitals and the blind, getting a rolodex of famous athletes and performers to headline the events, those who knew him said.
It was no surprise to his family that Fass’ favorite show was “Shark Tank.”
“Sales was his favorite thing,” his wife said. “He loved to close a deal. He loved to come up with something new and sell it.”
In 1997, he and a blind athlete from Freeport, Stephen Guerra, formed the Long Island Bombers in 1997 to compete in the national beep baseball tournaments, a return to a childhood love for the boy who once played for the Rockville Centre Little League.
The team opened up another world to Fass, showing him how others without sight lived, said Guerra, now of Rochester, Minnesota. If a Bomber had a problem, he was generous with advice and creative solutions, he said.
“I think he learned how to look at things more differently than he ever did before,” his friend said.
As a player and the team’s executive director, Fass worked to build a permanent foundation for the team, Guerra said. He was often on the phone getting patrons for the Bombers and gaining entry to places like the Yankee Stadium for the team to show its game, his friend said.
“Ted was tickled every day when he was doing something for the Bombers,” Guerra said.
Besides his wife and daughter, Fass is survived by daughter Allison Kapelner of Long Beach and sister Roberta Kaufman of Florida.
He was buried Sept. 13 at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens. Donations may be made to the Long Island Bombers and Prostate Cancer Foundation.
