A. Philip Corvo; Led Group of TV Executives

A. Philip Corvo, president of the National Assn. of Television Program Executives during a period in the 1980s when it experienced soaring growth, has died in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 67 and most recently had been the group’s executive vice president, resigning as president last year because of respiratory problems.

He died Saturday, said a spokeswoman for the organization of TV executives around the world that provides a marketplace for 12,000 buyers. The group is primarily involved with syndicated shows that are shown on hundreds of independent stations.

The organization was formed on the East Coast but under Corvo moved to Southern California; he had decreed “that if we’re going to service the membership of this organization, we’re going to have to be next to the action.”

Under Corvo the group took on more of an international flavor and began servicing cable operators.

Although station executives in the membership are scattered through the more than 200 local TV markets in the United States, nearly all the largest syndicators are headquartered in the Los Angeles area.

The group’s annual program conference, where station executives talk business with Hollywood’s leading figures, is the association’s primary mechanism for exchanging information about TV products, but on-line service has evolved into an increasing part of the operation, the spokeswoman said.

A memorial service for Corvo has been scheduled Thursday at 7 p.m. at St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica. He is survived by his wife, Doris, nine children, four grandchildren, a brother and a sister.