Frederick Selch, 72; Ad Exec Collected Musical Instruments

Frederick Selch, 72, an advertising executive and magazine publisher who collected hundreds of antique musical instruments, died Aug. 22 of cancer at his home in New York City.

Selch began collecting almost 50 years ago and owned more than 300 instruments by 1977.

That same year, he founded the Federal Music Society, an organization dedicated to performing music from the Colonial-Federal period. The group’s 26 players used instruments in Selch’s collection to perform in more than 70 concerts.

Born in South Royalton, Vt., Selch grew up in West Winfield, N.Y., and graduated from Hamilton College. He later earned a master’s degree in radio-television production from Syracuse University.

He worked at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency from 1955 to 1974 as a broadcast supervisor and media specialist. Selch also was the owner, editor and publisher of Ovation, a monthly magazine about classical music, from 1983 to 1989.

He produced the Broadway musical “Play Me a Country Song” in 1982, and in the last 10 years was involved in a series of American Music Festivals at Illinois Wesleyan University.