Al C. Rinaldi, 77, CEO Jacobs Music stores, singer

Al C. Rinaldi, 77, who rose from poverty to head Jacobs Music, a leading piano retailer with locations around the region, died of gastrointestinal cancer Thursday, Oct. 30, at his home in Mount Laurel.

Born Aug. 27, 1937, in Scranton, Mr. Rinaldi grew up believing his name was Freddie Nolan - the name given him by the alcoholic woman down the hall who took him in when his father and mother abandoned him.

It was a life of extreme poverty: "Freddie" learned to beg for food at a local deli by asking for scraps for a nonexistent family dog, to use sugar to mask the mold growing on bread taken from others' trash, to cut holes in his shoes to fit his feet, according to a detailed biography prepared for the family.

Music gave him an out.

Busking from age 6 with a friend, Mario Pizzuto, "Freddie" would sing while Mario played saxophone. Mario ended up with 90 percent of the money, but the singer was just happy to receive the dime out of the dollar.

When he was 9, a waitress named Emma Alberich overheard him singing and took him in. "Aunt Emma" suggested he learn the accordion.

"Music made the difference," said his wife, Gabrielle Kazze Rinaldi. "They got him this big accordion, and they gave him lessons."

He sang and played wherever he could, including in bars, at church, the marching band at West Scranton High School.

Joining the Navy after graduation, Mr. Rinaldi learned his real name after finding his birth certificate. Back in the U.S. after serving as a dental technician in North Africa, Mr. Rinaldi, 21, was unsure what to do next.

"He saw an ad for organ sales, and went for the interview and pretended he could play the organ," his wife said. He was hired.

Mr. Rinaldi stepped up from one sales job to another, then had his eponymous company run piano departments at Philadelphia department stores such as Gimbels, Strawbridge & Clothier, and Wanamaker's. He managed his way into finance, becoming director of a bank that ended up part of PNC.

With his success, Mr. Rinaldi decided to look into the Jacobs Music Co.; he had long admired its flagship store, in its landmark building at 1718 Chestnut St. He bought it in 1976.

That same year, he was diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer, for a second time. Mr. Rinaldi would be diagnosed with GI cancers and have the growths surgically removed more than a dozen times, his wife said.

They met in 1978, when she responded to an ad seeking a salesperson for Jacobs Music. They married in 1983. She stayed with the company and is an executive vice president; Mr. Rinaldi was its chairman and CEO.

Mr. Rinaldi always remembered his roots, his son Chris said, recalling holiday parties where his father asked guests to bring gifts that he would donate. He would help pay for instruments or music lessons for families that couldn't afford them. "He really, so much, never lost sight of where he was," said Chris Rinaldi, who became president of Jacobs Music.

Mr. Rinaldi is also survived by another son, Bob, senior vice president at the company, and three grandchildren. A third son, Michael, died of cancer in 2006.

A viewing will be held Monday, Nov. 3, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Bradley Funeral Home, 601 Route 73 South, Marlton. Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, at St. Joan of Arc Parish, 100 Willow Bend Rd., Marlton. Interment will follow at Locustwood Cemetery in Cherry Hill.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County, Curtis Institute of Music, or to support GI cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center.