Selby Segall, a beloved executive assistant to top Hollywood executives and mother of veteran trade executive Lynne Segall, died Thursday at age 90.
Her family said that she died of pneumonia at Cedars Sinai Hospital after a brief illness.
Segall spent 15 years at Showtime Networks as executive assistant to two then-SVPs of programming, Pearlena Igbokwe and Carol Mechanic.
Executives credited Segall with bringing intelligence, humor and nurturing to her role, building relationships that stretched throughout her life. “Selby was truly one of a kind and my life was enriched by having known and worked with her,” said Igbokwe, who is now chairman of the Universal Studio Group.
Segall moved to Los Angeles from Boston in 1985 to be closer to her daughter, Lynne, then a rising sales executive in Hollywood trade publishing and currently the chief revenue officer for TheWrap. Selby landed a job working in labor relations at KTTV.
After a Writers Guild of America strike in 1988, she went to work at Unitel Video, a company that provided studio and mobile production facilities and postproduction, special-effects services to the entertainment industry. She left Unitel to work at Showtime Networks.
Segall lived for many years with her daughter, Lynne, and always stayed close to the daily doings in the entertainment business. Before joining TheWrap, Lynne Segall served as vice president of entertainment at the Los Angeles Times, and later the EVP and Group Publisher at The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.
Selby Segall is survived by her daughter, Lynne. Donations in her name can be made to World Wildlife Federation.