Richard Gallop, 51, Former Columbia President, Dies

Richard C. Gallop, who for three years was president and chief operating officer of Columbia Pictures Industries, died Thursday of a brain tumor at a New York City hospital. He was 51.

Gallop headed Columbia between 1983 and 1986 when it was owned by the Coca-Cola Co. Columbia was sold this month to Sony Corp. for $3.4 billion, the largest sale ever of a U.S. company to a Japanese firm.

When he left Columbia, Gallop became managing director of Allen and Co., a New York City investment banking firm that was acquired by Coca-Cola in 1982.

A native of Manhattan, Gallop had homes in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Gilford, N.H. He graduated from Phillips Academy at Andover and from Williams College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1963.

He joined the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy in New York, where he became a partner. In 1969, he joined the Washington firm of Caplin & Drysdale. While at both firms, Gallop served as outside counsel to Columbia and in 1981 became Columbia’s senior vice president and general counsel.

Gallop is survived by his wife, the former Ann Morris McEldowney, and two sons, Jeffrey of Providence, R.I., and James of Manhattan. He also is survived by his father, M. Robert Gallop of Manhattan, and a sister, Barbara Gilbert of Briarcliff Manor.