| BACK to Larry MAIN PAGE
|
| Click here to Join
"Friends and Family List" larry-subscribe@skylineinteractive.com
|
 |
|
FRIENDS OF LARRY CONTRIBUTIONS Instruction Page
|
|
|
Larry Seehorn
One Obituary
|
LETTER for Larry's Celebration of Life <CLICK HERE> Mon, 9 Oct 2006 15:27:26 -0700 (PDT) ____ Larry Lee Seehorn, who Francis Ford Coppola noted as the “true originator of electronic editing”, died on September 3, 2006 in Nanning , China . He was 67 years old. Larry was born in Spokane , Washington and grew up in the Spokane and Seattle areas, graduating from Seattle’s Queen Anne High School . He briefly attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (dismissed for putting the admiral’s dingy in the swimming pool and other pranks), and later took engineering courses at the University of Washington and Washington State . Early on, he was fascinated by the electronics of broadcasting and worked as a technician behind the cameras and as talent for news and children shows. After being hired by Hewlett-Packard Company in 1969 to run their corporate studio, Larry and two other engineer friends formed Television Associates where he worked evenings duplicating videotapes. As HP’s European Videotape Manager, he produced and promoted numerous training videotapes for customers and sales engineers for the European market. During this time he began working on his own ideas for using computers to simplify and automate many of the current manual functions of video production and editing. After returning to the US, Larry created Horizon Software, pulling together other video editors and engineers including Steve Michaelson (One Pass Video), Steve Wozniak (who designed the integrated time code reader), and others to help with the software design. Their first product was the Epic Editor. This was the first computer based video editor to have a “look ahead capability”, enabling users to set up future video edits while the current edit was being made. It was soon purchased and then marketed by Consolidated Video Systems. Later, Larry started Control Video Corporation (CVC) which continued to create products designed to automate studio and editing functions thereby allowing smaller broadcasting stations to have the look and feel of entities with much larger staffs. CVC created the Light Finger Editor, the first touch screen editor to utilize icons and incorporate Larry’s designs for controlling multiple video tape recorders. Other products included a playback and record system and a sequencer which provided complete program automation for cable TV systems and closed circuit video operations. His last company, Seehorn Associates, co-founded with Gabreal Franklin, and other friends, developed the Midas editor, a Macintosh based production editor workstation which incorporated all of the tools needed to take a video project from storyboard through production. Larry’s designs had also caught the attention of the film industry, notably Clark Higgins of Lucasfilm and Francis Coppola. Coppola in particular used some of Larry’s designs to be able to transfer film clips to video for editing and then back to film. Several of Larry’s designs were incorporated into other station automation systems sold by other companies. Most of Larry’s companies were started in his Sunnyvale home which required some flexibility from family members what with engineers coming and going at all hours. At one time bedrooms and even one bathroom were humorously labeled with signs “Conference Room X Please see the receptionist for reservations.” The corporate mascots, two felines named PITA and Sam, snoozed in opened briefcases or cautiously pawed their way through the tangled lines of electrical cabling, occasionally batting the streams of paper riffling through the line printers. Larry was not your typical engineer. Although he owned a suit, which he never wore and his preferred year-round working attire was shorts and flip-flops, he was gregarious, punned incessantly, played fearless bridge, and loved just having fun. He played handball, ping pong, and racket ball to win and hated to lose. While most people hid the fact that they had false teeth, Larry flaunted his. He would reposition his upper plate in his mouth, assume a King Kong pose and delight children everywhere as “monster man”. He took up golf after marrying Marialis Collins, but refused lessons and advice, preferring to tunnel his way down fairways. She jokingly promised him a new set of Ping irons (an extravagance in those days) if he could break 100. After fewer than 30 rounds, he collected his Pings . Driving his antique cars -- a classic Mustang, a fiery red 380 Mercedes convertible, and an ancient Porsche roadster brought him attention from the CHP and traffic departments of Silicon Valley cities. In 1989, he “starred” as an extra in Coppola’s movie, “Tucker: The Man and His Dream”. He celebrated his two seconds of celebrity with a before-movie party, then treated friends and family to the opening at Century 24. In 2002, Larry traveled to China and married Mei Rongchen Xu. He said his last few years were among his happiest as he spent time with Mei and taught classes at the English Corner. During a home trip in 2005, he confided to close friends that this might well be his last trip to the US . Unfortunately, Larry fell ill with encephalitis in mid June and never regained consciousness, eventually succumbing to heart failure. His wife Mei was by his side. Larry will best be remembered as a very kind and helpful friend, loving husband and resourceful father. Larry is survived by four siblings: Lloyd (and Shirley) Seehorn, Glen (and MaryAnn) Seehorn, Ron Seehorn, Peg (and Ken) Fallon, Dwyla (Buck) Nelson, his children by his first wife, Marge Hell: Doug (Connie) Seehorn, Greg (and Sherri) Seehorn, Shanda (and Pat) Navarro, Lauri Seehorn, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild. The Seehorn family would like to thank his many friends for their messages, prayers and contributions during Larry’s illness. Special thanks go to his friends Gabreal Franklin of All Planet, Dr. Robert Telfer, and Larry’s nephew Robert Seehorn. Two celebrations of Larry’s life will be held in Spokane and Sunnyvale during October. Received from Marialis, and forwarded from "Gabreal Franklin" <Director@allplanet.com> To:
Subject:
Please find enclosed an Obituary
received this
Best regards and thanks,
|
a division of ALL PLANET NETWORK
ALL PLANET Incorporated
all rights reserved
Gabreal Franklin Associates reserve
intelectual property on selected materials
