Marty Erlichman, the manager who spotted a 19-year-old Barbra Streisand singing in a Greenwich Village nightclub in 1960 and spent more than six decades guiding her career — famously without ever signing a formal management contract — has died at 97.

Erlichman died Oct. 31 in Los Angeles, according to Rolling Stone and Variety, both of which confirmed the death with his family. He is survived by his wife, Miko Mayama Erlichman, a son and four grandchildren.

A handshake that lasted 60 years

Erlichman went backstage after watching Streisand perform and offered to manage her; by May 1961 she had signed on, and the two famously never put the arrangement in writing. He went on to negotiate nearly every deal of her career while insisting she retain creative control and veto power over her own work — an unusually artist-friendly arrangement for the era. Beyond Streisand, he also produced films including "For Pete's Sake" and "Coma," and won an Emmy and a Peabody Award as an executive producer of the 1994 television special "Barbra: The Concert."

"I TRULY THOUGHT HE WOULD LIVE FOREVER." — BARBRA STREISAND

Streisand paid tribute to her longtime manager following news of his death, calling it a loss she never expected. "I truly thought he would live forever," she said, according to Yahoo Entertainment's report on her statement. His family described him as "a giant of Hollywood" and a devoted father and husband, noting his reputation in the industry as rough, gruff and relentlessly focused on his client's interests.

Erlichman also guided the career of 1960s pop group Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, who scored five gold singles on the Billboard Hot 100 under his management. But it was his decades-long partnership with Streisand — one of the longest manager-client relationships in entertainment history — that defined his legacy, spanning her rise from nightclub singer to EGOT-winning icon.

Tributes from across the industry followed the news of his death, with colleagues and former clients remembering him as one of the last of a generation of managers who built careers on personal loyalty rather than contracts. No memorial service details had been announced as of Monday.