Meadowbrook Founder Dies

Bob Harding, who built the Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center in an empty field in Gilford, N.H., and served as the center’s president and CEO, has died of lung cancer at 65.

The shed, now Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion, opened in 1996 with a temporary stage and folding chairs, and in a little more than a decade grew to become a 6,500-seat, premier music venue in New England.

"My father never quit, he was the only person I know who could have had the vision of what Meadowbrook could be and the resolve and work ethic to make it become a reality," son RJ Harding said in a statement.