Calabasas television ace Roy LaViolette dies, helped record Nelson Eddy
Longtime Calabasas resident and city television chief engineer Roy LaViolette has died.
LaViolette joined the city’s media operations team in 1991, first as a volunteer and then as a consultant and engineer for CTV. LaViolette worked on Wed., Aug. 20, and then died in his sleep sometime that night, a spokesperson said.
LaViolette and his late wife Doris contributed to the incorporation of Calabasas and lived in the city for more than 40 years.
LaViolette worked as an engineer on CBS radio broadcasts before joining Columbia Records, where he helped record such artists as Harry James and Nelson Eddy. He later worked behind the scenes for television stations KLAC, KCOP and KTLA in Los Angeles.
“Roy was an inspiration to all of us in the media department and the entire city of Calabasas,” said Deborah Steller, Calabasas media operations manager. “He lived through, and was part of, the technological revolution and always stayed on top of the latest gadgets and technology until the day he died.”
A CTV “Living History” program is being aired in his honor.
LaViolette was named Citizen of the Year by the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation in 2001. And in May 2007, he was honored for outstanding community service by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County’s Commission on Aging and the Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging.
LaViolette is survived by his daughter Julie Coomes; son-in-law Scott Coomes; son Robert LaViolette; daughter-in-law Ann Harper; granddaughter Nicolle LaViolette Keenan Meijia; grandson Brandon Coomes; grandson Andrew Coomes; and granddaughter Lauren LaViolette.