Lawrence Bruce Taishoff

Lawrence Bruce Taishoff, 73, president and publisher of Broadcasting magazine from 1973 to 1986 and prominent businessman in the Washington, D.C, area's real estate and philanthropic circles, died in the Washington Hospital Center on Nov. 1 2006 after a long illness. He suffered from complications of diabetes. Mr. Taishoff's father, Sol Taishoff, co-founded Broadcasting in 1931. The trade publication dominated the television, radio, cable and satellite media press. In 1986 the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Corp. purchased the magazine for what was then and may remain the record price ever paid for a business trade publication, $75 million. Larry Taishoff graduated from Duke University in 1955 and served in U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division as a paratrooper. He was stationed in Germany before he joined Broadcasting in 1958. He quickly gravitated to the business side of the publication and soon took over its publishing operations. The Taishoff family's real estate interests multiplied alongside the magazine business, first established in Washington's National Press Club Building. After the sale of the magazine, Mr. Taishoff, who had always considered broadcast ownership a conflict of interest during his magazine years, briefly entered the field as co-owner of Chuckie Broadcasting (named for his younger brother who was killed in a bicycle accident as a child). Larry Taishoff was born in Washington on August 30, 1933, the son of Sol and Betty (Tash) Taishoff. He is survived by three sons—Robert Paul, Randall Lawrence and Jonathan Bradford and their wives Laurie, Laine and Martha—from his first marriage to Nancy Lee Stuckey. He is also survived by seven grandchildren.