Richard Englund; Director of Joffrey Company

Richard Englund, director of the Joffrey II, the training company for the Joffrey Ballet, died Friday at his Manhattan home, his wife said Sunday. He was 59.

The Seattle native, who created and produced more than 80 ballets, divertissements and dances for ballet, opera and the musical theater, died of chronic lymphatic leukemia, said his wife, Gage Bush Englund.

As a dancer, Englund performed with the American Ballet Theatre, the National Ballet of Canada and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet--as well as in some Broadway musicals.

In 1985 Englund was named director of the Joffrey II following 13 years as director of the Ballet Repertory Company, the second troupe of the American Ballet Theatre, which he changed from a student organization to a respected company that toured worldwide.

He had previously founded and directed the dance department at Governor’s School of North Carolina, the Alabama State Ballet, the Huntington Dance Ensemble and Dance Repertory Company.