Former Showtime Sports executive Jay Larkin died Monday after a long bout with brain cancer, according to ESPN.com.
Larkin, who was 59, spent 22 years with Showtime -- most of that time running the network's boxing operations.
As senior vice president of Showtime Sports, Larkin presided over some of the industry's biggest pay-per-view boxing events, including the 1996 Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight and the subsequent rematch in 1997 - both of which rank among the top 10 most lucrative fights in PPV history. He also represented Showtime in its negotiations with rival pay TV network HBO to make the 2002 Lennox Lewis-Tyson fight, one of only two fights to draw 2 million PPV buys.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend, Jay Larkin," Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Ken Hershman, who succeeded Larkin at Showtime, said in a statement. "His remarkable enthusiasm, his insatiable zeal for life and esprit de corps that he left behind at Sho Sports will always be with us. He will be missed by the countless people that he met and touched including all of us here at Showtime who've had the pleasure to work with him. All our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
After leaving Showtime in 2005, Larkin worked as president for the now-defunct International Fight League mixed martial arts outfit.
Larkin is survived by his wife, Lisa, and their teenage sons, Ryan and Gabriel. A funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday in Elmont, N.Y., according to ESPN.com.
