#Royal Blakeman, Former NATAS President, Dies at 99

Royal Blakeman, a president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the 1960s, died Sunday in Delray Beach, Florida. He was 99.

Blakeman served as president of the New York chapter of NATAS from 1963-65 and then as the seventh national president of the organization from 1966-68.

For a quarter-century, he was general counsel at the Recording Academy, which in 2003 presented him with its Trustees Award.

A New York native, Blakeman graduated from Hofstra University in 1942 and New York University in 1947 before beginning his career.

An entertainment attorney with an early focus on theatrical law, he also was an officer and director at Mark Goodson Productions.

“Our Academy has lost a member of its founding generation,” NATAS chairman Terry O’Reilly said in a statement. “Royal Blakeman was a part of the fabric of the broadcasting industry at its most burgeoning time. He helped shape how several academies celebrate excellence across media today and for generations to come.”