↵On Monday coming home on the train I got an email from my colleague Rich Sandomir of the New York Times who asked me if I had heard Jay Larkin died. It was so very sad news. Jay was one of the few mentors that I had…I learned more form him in a little over a year about learning to manage people and grow business at the now defunct International Fight League than I had in countless years at Madison Square Garden or other stops. He was a legend in boxing, a gentleman and a Brooklyn native with a killer instinct and business savvy that as he put it, made Showtime a strong Avis to HBO’s Hertz. More importantly, he was a devoted father and husband who knew when to have a good time and when to work. He helped bring professionalism to the most brutal of sports, and he always spoke his mind.
Jay Larkin Passes Away At Age 59
↵↵- Joe Favorito writes about a sad development in the combat sports world as former IFL CEO and Showtime boxing executive Jay Larkin passes away at age 59.
↵I don’t want to write too much about the situation because Joe did a great job of summing up Jay from a friend’s perspective and FightNews.com has up a piece covering many of Jay’s professional accomplishments. I met Jay once at an IFL event I covered but did little more than exchange typical media/executive pleasantries but from what I was told by others he was a good man and his accomplishments at Showtime are beyond questioning. My thoughts and best wishes go out to Jay’s family in this difficult time.
↵In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made in Jay Larkin’s name to the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, % Duke University Medical Center, DUMC Box 3624, Durham, North Carolina 27710 or online by visiting http://www.cancer.duke.edu/btc/.
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