(FORTUNE Magazine) – Columbia Records President James Conkling "lives like a TV program, on a split-second schedule," FORTUNE reported in "How Top Executives Live" (July 1955). "While he brushes his teeth, his wife shows him a breakfast menu, which may include chocolate pudding. By nine o'clock," the article continues, "he is on a train for Manhattan. Around 7 p.m. he gets back to Bronxville. After a brisk dinner (no cocktails) and 60 minutes playing with the children, he plows into a mound of work..." Gatherings like the one shown here weren't as efficiency driven as it seems, however. Son Chris says they "got us talking and kept us up as a family."

A onetime Du Pont salesman and trumpet player, Conkling began his record industry career at the fledgling Capitol label. As VP of Artists & Repertoire, he worked with such talent as Nat "King" Cole, Dean Martin, and the King Sisters, one of whom, Donna, became his wife--and introduced him to the Mormon faith, where family meetings are a tradition.

Conkling joined Columbia Records in 1951 and in 1958 was recruited by Jack Warner to launch Warner Bros. Records. In 1981 he became head of Voice of America. Last year Conkling, who has Alzheimer's, was honored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which he co-founded. Among those present: Donna and their five children, who have 23 kids of their own. Those family meetings continue, but there's no hand raising to get attention. "Sometimes," says Chris, "we even go bowling."

--Shaifali Puri