Stephanie Leifer Dies: Beloved Former ABC Executive Was 56
Stephanie Leifer, a former programming executive who worked a combined 28 years at ABC Signature and ABC before leaving the company in 2022, died Thursday of cancer. She was 56.
Leifer’s last position was as head of current programming at ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios. Before that, she had held the current programming title at ABC Studios since 2010.
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Prior to joining the studio in 2006, Leifer worked for 12 years at ABC, rising through the ranks from an assistant in the Movie of the Week department to an executive in current programming, drama development and comedy development.
Before that, she was SVP Comedy Development for the ABC network, which she joined in 1994.
“Stephanie was a beloved member of the Disney Entertainment Television family for nearly three decades, and our hearts are broken by the devastating news of her passing,” a spokesman for Disney Entertainment TV said. “She was a highly admired executive, whose creative impact was only matched by the relationships she nurtured both within the company and across the industry. Our sincerest condolences go out to her family, especially her husband and our colleague, Jonathan, and their two beautiful children, Amelia and Noah.”
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Leifer began her career as a production associate at WGBH-TV in Boston and was a literary assistant at Writers and Artists Agency.
There will be a private funeral with a celebration of life scheduled in the near future.
Donations in Leifer’s honor can be made to CASA of Los Angeles, where she was a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children.
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