LOS ANGELES — Longtime television executive
Daniel Burke, considered one of the architects of the modern television industry and a former president and chief executive of Capital Cities/ABC, died Wednesday. He was 82.
He died at his home in Rye, N.Y., of complications from Type 1 diabetes, his family said.
Burke spent more than 30 years at Capital Cities, rising from manager of its television station in Albany, N.Y., to chief executive.
Working closely with Tom Murphy, the chairman of Capital Cities, the duo took the company from a handful of TV stations to become a broadcasting and publishing giant.
In 1986 Murphy and Burke engineered the purchase of the ABC network for $3.5 billion.
He retired in 1994, two years before the company was soldto Walt Disney Co.
Burke “shaped the culture of the company, with an emphasis on accountability, directness, irreverence and community service,” Murphy said in a statement, adding that he had a “wicked sense of humor that made every day more fun.”
Burke was born Feb. 4, 1929, in Albany.
Business smarts ran in Burke’s family; his older brother James was a chief executive of Johnson & Johnson. Two of Burke’s sons followed him into the media industry; Steve Burke is currently chief executive of NBCUniversal, and Bill Burke was a former senior executive at Turner Broadcasting who co-wrote media mogul Ted Turner’s autobiography.
Other survivors include Burke’s wife of 54 years, Harriet; son Frank; daughter Sally McNamara; and 14 grandchildren.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 10/27/2011