PASSINGS: Franklin Mieuli, Ron Scalera

Franklin Mieuli, owned Golden State Warriors

Franklin Mieuli, 89, whose deerstalker cap, substantial beard and casual style made him one of the NBA’s most colorful figures in his 24 years as owner of the Golden State Warriors, died of natural causes Sunday in a Bay Area hospital, the Warriors announced.

FOR THE RECORD:
Franklin Mieuli obituary: The obituary of former Golden State Warriors owner Franklin Mieuli in Tuesday’s LATExtra section said he was principal owner of the team when it moved to the Bay Area from Philadelphia in 1962. Mieuli was part of a group of minority owners at the time. Diners Club, whose executive vice president was Matty Simmons, was the majority owner of the club. In 1963, Mieuli bought out shares held by Diners Club and other investors to become the principal owner.—

Mieuli was the principal owner of the Warriors from the time they moved to the Bay Area in 1962 until he sold them in 1986. He won an NBA title with the team in 1975, still the club’s only championship in nearly half a century in California.

Leveraging his way into team ownership through a business producing Bay Area sports broadcasts, Mieuli also once owned a small percentage of baseball’s San Francisco Giants. He still had a 5% interest in the 49ers of the NFL, purchased in 1954.

Born Sept. 4, 1920, Mieuli grew up in San Jose and attended the University of Oregon. He became an advertising executive for a San Francisco brewery that, at his instigation, began sponsoring 49ers radio broadcasts.

That association with 49ers founders Tony and Vic Morabito led to his purchase of an interest in the team. He also founded a radio production company, Franklin Mieuli Associates.

In 1962, Mieuli headed a group of Bay Area investors who along with the Diners Club bought the Philadelphia Warriors and moved the basketball team to San Francisco. Mieuli later bought out the other owners and moved the club to Oakland, changing its name to the Golden State Warriors in 1971.

Ron Scalera, shaped promotional campaigns for hit CBS shows

Ron Scalera, 49, a well-regarded marketing executive for CBS, died Wednesday after collapsing while on a walk near his home in Encino.

Scalera had been with CBS since 1997 and shaped promotional campaigns for several of the network’s hit shows, including “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Wife” and “Undercover Boss.”

He played a key role in crafting the image that the network projected to viewers and advertisers. CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said Scalera’s work “graced the air of CBS every day.”

During his time at the network, Scalera rose to executive vice president and creative director. Before that he was a senior marketing executive for Fox, where he was instrumental in much of that network’s early success through his promotion and branding campaigns.

Scalera started his career in local television as a junior writer and producer at WNYW-TV in New York.

A native of New Jersey, he earned a bachelor’s degree in English at William Paterson University.

—Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com