Deirdre “Didi” O’Hearn, a veteran cable executive who spent 16 years at A&E Television Networks and also worked at WeTV and the Food Network, died Monday. She was 63.
O’Hearn, who was nominated for six Emmys and won five Golden Eagle Awards, died in a hospice in St. Augustine, Florida, after a long battle with lung cancer, a publicist announced.
Most recently, O’Hearn served as senior vice president of programming and development for the Food Network and Cooking Channel from 2014 to 2017. In this role, she was responsible for existing programming schedules in both daytime and primetime, as well as the development of new shows.
“On cable, we’re all looking for hits,” O’Hearn said THR after she got the job. “You have to be a destination. You have to be on the map. You have to be the place that viewers tune in to, and a hit just puts you on the map. Plus, it lets you be successful that night. I don’t think there’s a cable programmer out there who doesn’t worry about getting hits.”
As vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E Television Networks, O’Hearn developed and launched Family Jewels by Gene Simmonswhich ran from 2006 to 2012. The reality series followed the bassist and singer of Kiss, his wife, actress Shannon Tweed, and their two children.
She was also program director of the Biography Channel and executive producer of the biography and as a producer of programs for the A&E Network and the History Channel, where she wrote and produced biographies of such figures as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote, John McCain, and Eva Peron.
O’Hearn was born on January 16, 1961, and grew up in Wilton, Connecticut. She graduated from Wilton High School in 1979 before earning her bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and her master’s degree from the Columbia School of Journalism.
She also worked as Vice President for the New York office of nonfiction media producer Darlow Smithson Productions and as Vice President of Development and Talent at WeTV, where she created original series and specials and played a key role in the development of Mary Mary, Kendra at the top And LA Hair.
She is survived by her husband Richard, her children Ian and Michael, and her four brothers William, Robert, Michael and Tierney, and their families. Donations in her name may be made to the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health.
