Jay Larkin was a television boxing and entertainment executive. During his more than twenty years with the cable network Showtime, from 1984 to 2005, Larkin created and produced such programs as Showtime Championship Boxing

Showtime Championship Boxing

Showtime Championship Boxing is a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month...

and ShoBox as a pay-per-view

Pay-per-view

Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...

 sports phenomenon, rising from publicist to senior vice president and executive producer en route to becoming one of the most powerful successful persons in the television boxing business, promoting major boxing events. Larkin also brought MMA to television, but was less successful.

Childhood and education

Born into a Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 Jewish family, Larkin held degrees in theatre and directing from C.W. Post College, Long Island University

Long Island University

Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...

, Boston Conservatory of Music, and the School of Theatre, Film and Television at University of California at Los Angeles.

Boxing and MMA promotion

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...

, Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...

, Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

, Marvin Hagler

Marvin Hagler

Marvelous Marvin Hagler , is a former professional boxer who was undisputed world middleweight champion between 1980 and 1987. Hagler holds the distinction of having the highest KO% of all middleweight champions at 78%...

, Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...

, Julio Cesar Chavez

Julio César Chávez

Julio César Chávez is a retired Mexican professional boxer.He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions, and for several years he was considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world...

, and Felix Trinidad

Félix Trinidad

Félix 'Tito' Trinidad, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, considered one of the best in Puerto Rico's history. After winning five National Amateur Championships in Puerto Rico, he debuted as a professional when he was 17. He won his first world championship when he defeated Maurice Blocker...

 were among the boxers whose bouts Larkin promoted. His biggest fights were Tyson-Holyfield I in 1996, Tyson-Holyfield II in 1997 (a record $100,000,000 revenue night), and Tyson-Lewis in 2002. He was fired due to Showtime network job cutbacks in November 2005. He followed as president in 2007–2008 of the now defunct mixed martial arts promotion International Fight League

International Fight League

The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006 and closed on July 31, 2008...

. Larkin's venture in MMA was a televised first and a failure. The IFL promotion was the first to be on broadcast TV in 2007 when it signed a deal with MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

. IFL lost nearly $36,000,000 in its brief two years of existence in competition with UFC.

Showtime pay-per-view concerts

Larkin was involved in marketing, distribution and production of such artists as Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

, Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, Sting, The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

, Liza Minnelli

Liza Minnelli

Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....

, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Jay Z, Gloria Esteban, Spice Girls

Spice Girls

The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...

, and BackStreet Boys

Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

.

Showtime comedy specials and documentaries

Larkin worked with such celebrities on Showtime as Tim Allen

Tim Allen

Tim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...

, Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....

, Drew Carey

Drew Carey

Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...

, Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...

, Dave Chappelle

Dave Chappelle

David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His...

, Dennis Leary and many others. He was executive producer on Broadway of Mario Cantone

Mario Cantone

Mario Cantone is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, with numerous appearances on Comedy Central including Chappelle's Show. He also played Anthony Marentino on Sex and the City...

's Tony-nominated Laugh Whore.

Death

Larkin passed away in Nyack Hospital in Nyack, New York

Nyack, New York

Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...

 of a brain tumor

Brain tumor

A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...

 on August 9, 2010. He was diagnosed in April 2007, and maintained a correspondence with New York Yankee Bobby Murcer

Bobby Murcer

Bobby Ray Murcer was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played for 17 seasons between 1965 and 1983, mostly with the New York Yankees, whom he later rejoined as a longtime broadcaster...

, who was in a similar situation and predeceased him. Larkin was buried in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York

Elmont, New York

Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...

. He was survived by his wife Lisa and their two sons. Before he died, Larkin stated Nigel Benn

Nigel Benn

Nigel Benn , known as "The Dark Destroyer", is a British former boxer who held world titles in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions....

 versus Gerald McClellan

Gerald McClellan

Gerald McClellan is a former boxer from the United States of America, who was the WBO and WBC middleweight champion. McClellan's record as a professional boxer was 31 wins and 3 losses with 29 wins by knockout...

was his most painful moment as a promoter.