Green died at Desert Regional Medical Center of natural causes, according to his grandson Jonathan Ross.
He co-founded Mercury in 1945 and helped turn the independent outfit into a major label. Mercury recorded Louis Armstrong's first No. 1 hit in 1964 with “Hello, Dolly!" and hits by other artists, including Frankie Laine and Patti Page.
Mercury became the first major label with black top executive when Green hired Quincy Jones as vice president.
After Mercury was sold to Polygram Records in the mid-70s, Green turned to land development, building hundreds of homes in Iran. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, he returned to Palm Springs and started Landau Development, building more than 1,000 homes in the area.
-- Associated Press
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