About Ahmet Ertegün Ahmet Ertegun (Turkish: Ahmet Ertegün; July 31 1923– December 14, 2006) was the Turkish American founder and president of Atlantic Records and chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum, described as "one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry". He also co-founded the New York Cosmos soccer team of the North American Soccer League.Background Born in Istanbul, Ahmet and his family, including elder brother Nesuhi, moved to Washington, D.C. in 1935, with their father, Münir Ertegün, who served as the first Ambassador of the then-young Republic of Turkey to the United States of America. His last name, Ertegün, means "living in a hopeful future" in Turkish. Ahmet's older brother Nesuhi introduced him to jazz music, taking him to see the Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway orchestras in London at the age of nine. At the age of fourteen his mother bought him a record-cutting machine which he used to compose and add lyrics to instrumental records. The brothers also frequented Milt Gabler’s Commodore Record Store, assembled a large collection of over 15,000 jazz and blues 78s, and became acquainted with musicians such as Ellington, Lena Horne and Jelly Roll Morton. Ahmet and Nesuhi staged concerts by Lester Young, Sidney Bechet and other jazz giants, often at the Jewish Community Center, which was the only place that would allow a mixed audience and mixed band. They also traveled to New Orleans and to Harlem to listen to music and develop a keen awareness of developing musical tastes. In 1944 Munir Ertegün died, and in 1946 President Truman ordered the battleship USS Missouri to return the deceased to Turkey as a demonstration of friendship between US and Turkey. This act also served as a show of support to counter the Soviet Union's potential political demands on Turkey. Ahmet graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis in 1944. At the time of his father’s death he was taking graduate courses in Medieval philosophy at Georgetown University. Soon after the family returned to Turkey, Ahmet and Nesuhi stayed in the United States. While Nesuhi moved to Los Angeles, Ahmet stayed in Washington and decided to get into the record business as a temporary measure to help him through the college.