STEVE DIENER,
1938-2019

Steve Diener, the President of ABC Records who oversaw the release of Steely Dan’s Aja, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes and Jimmy Buffett’s Son of a Son of a Sailor before shepherding 20th Century Fox into the home-video arena, died at his home in Coral Gables, Fla., on Tuesday. He was 80.

A music and entertainment executive, media entrepreneur and longtime friend of the HITS family, Diener entered the music industry and held various executive positions at CBS Records International before departing to Paris to head CBS Records France. He later became president of ABC’s international operations.

Diener moved to Los Angeles in 1977 to take the reins as President of ABC Records and would subsequently lead and oversee the sale of the record label to MCA.

He returned to CBS International in the early 1980s, relocating to Miami as Executive Vice President where he oversaw the marketing operations of the European and Latin American divisions.

Later, he was named President of 20th Century Fox Video at the birth of the industry, and in the mid-80s, he served as Chairman/CEO of Heron Communications. There he led a private-equity acquisition of the Fred Astaire Dance Studios where he also served as Chairman/CEO.

A jazz enthusiast born and raised in Fair Lawn, N.J., he spent his latter years in Coral Gables, devoting his personal time to the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Mercy Hospital, his local Chabad of the Grove, and area missions, where he was able to utilize his gift for languages as a teacher.

Among his survivors is his son James Diener, founder of Octone Records, Alignment Artist Capital and Freesolo Entertainment.

Services will be held Sunday at noon at Jewish Memorial Chapel, 841 Allwood Road, Clifton, N.J., 07012.