Larry Owen; Former Director of ‘Today’

Larry Owen, who began a lengthy career in television as a page for NBC and later directed the network’s “Today” show, has died at a hospital here. He was 69.

A longtime Burbank resident, Owen died Tuesday of leukemia at St. Joseph Medical Center, said his son, Bill Owen of Poway.

According to his son, Owen joined NBC as a page at its Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York during the 1950s. He rose through the network ranks, working as a stage manager for a variety of programs during television’s Golden Age.

During the early 1960s, he landed at the “Today” show, where he worked as an associate director, said Jim Straka, the show’s former stage manager. Owen eventually became the show’s director during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“He was very generous with his friends,” Straka recalled of their years together in New York. “He gave a great deal of time to his friends.”

Owen left “Today” and relocated to Burbank in the mid-1970s, where he produced spots for the network’s evening newscast. He retired about 10 years ago, his son said.

Born Lawrence Joseph Owen Jr. in Cleveland on April 30, 1925, he grew up in New York, the son of a musician in Guy Lombardo’s orchestra. He served in the Navy during World War II and briefly attended junior college before joining NBC.

In addition to his son, Owen is survived by two daughters, Lynette Kay of Burbank and Robin Roccaro of San Diego, and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Foursquare Church, 269 E. Providencia Ave., Burbank. Aftercare California Cremation & Burial Society in North Hollywood is handling the arrangements.