Charney, David B.(died 2002)

CHARNEY

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 3/11/2008 at 16:20:16

David Charnay, former Clinton Engines chairman.

David B. Charnay, former chief executive of Four Star Television Productions, died last Wednesday at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 90 and lived in Calabasas, Calif.
Mr. Charnay was also president and chairman of Four Star, which both produced and distributed many television programs. It began in the 1950's as a partnership between Charles Boyer, David Niven and other Hollywood luminaries.
From 1967 to 1982 Mr. Charnay was the leader of a group that acquired a controlling interest in Four Star. For a decade and a half he directed the company, which amassed a sizable inventory of programs for syndication.
He was born in Manhattan, grew up there and attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and New York University. After being a reporter for tabloid newspapers in New York City, he was in the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the C.I.A.) during World War II.
In the early 1950's Mr. Charnay started Allied Public Relations, which became a large firm. Mr. Charney was involved in public relations for more than a decade. Afterward he was chairman of companies including Clinton Engines and Highway Trailers.
He also wrote novels, including ''Target 1600'' (1980), a political thriller.
He is survived by his wife, Martha Arnold-Charnay; a son, John, of Los Angeles; two daughters, Janis Charnay of Palm Springs, Calif., and Jeannette Hower of Chaparral, N.M.; seven grandchildren; and a sister, Beatrice Maybruck of Manhattan.
New York Times, October 9, 2002