The former programming executive, who was with ABC for nearly three decades, passed away on Thursday.
What’s Happening:
- Deadline reports that Stephanie Leifer passed away at the age of 56 on Thursday after a battle with cancer.
- The former programming executive worked a combined 28 years at ABC and ABC Signature.
- Leifer’s last role with the company was head of current programming at ABC Signature. She left the position in 2022. Before her role with ABC Signature, she held the same title with ABC Studios starting in 2010.
- Before joining the studio in 2006, Leifer climbed the ranks of ABC for 12 years starting as an assistant in the Movie of the Week department all the way to executive of current programming, drama development and comedy development.
- Prior to these roles, Leifer was SVP of Comedy Development for the ABC network, which she began in 1994.
- A spokesperson for Disney Entertainment TV shared “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… 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.”
- Leifer began her career as a production associate at Boston’s WGBH-TV and was also a literary assistant at Writers and Artists Agency.
- Donations can be made in her honor to CASA of Los Angeles, where she served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children.