Veteran Broadcast Exec Stephen P. Mathis Dies at 77

TWIN FALLS: Stephen P. Mathis, who worked in media for more than 50 years, died suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 77.

Mathis served in senior management positions at ABC's owned-and-operated stations during the 1960s and '70s in Detroit, Chicago and New York. He worked at Storer Broadcasting in New York for its station group and later served as VP and general manager for WNAC in Boston in the late 1970s. Mathis also produced specials for ABC and NBC. He was the president of Barris Productions and Carson Productions, responsible for such productions as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Jeffersons and others. He went on to develop private television in Indonesia in the 1990s and held senior management roles at MediaCorp TV in Singapore and 1TV in Afghanistan. In 2003 he co-founded CMM, representing the TV content of Paramount Pictures and MGM to the CCTV network in China.

Mathis and his wife, Patricia, lived in Palm Desert, CA, and Buhl, Idaho. He is survived by his children Steve Jr., Ford, Crawford, Melissa and Scott, and granddaughter Ella.