An SOS Original Cast Member Has Passed Away

Larry Emsweller, a well known, longtime Nashville broadcast executive/business consultant and one of the members of the original cast of Sing-Out South has passed away.

Acccording to the information I have received he died in his sleep overnight between Friday evening and Saturday  morning. No cause of death has been announced but it is believed to be heart related. His funeral arrangements are to be handled by the Marshall Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home. His death notice has not yet appeared in the local papers.

Larry became a part of Sing-Out South while he was a student at John Overton High School. He was a member of the original Task Force groups of Sing-Out South which performed our earliest shows, including an impromptu one for Senator Albert Gore, Sr. at the old Sky Chef restaurant near the old Nashville airport.

Larry and his wife Margaret lived in the Franklin area. According to information on his LinkedIn page, he had a wide and varied career in the media and communications, including being a television news reporter in Nashville as well as being station manager for WSMV-TV, Channel 4 in Nashville for nearly a decade (1988-1997). He was also briefly Director of Program Development for Meredith Corporation which owns Channel 4. Back in the 1980s, Larry worked for Group W Broadcasting as Senior Program Consultant and Senior Coordinating Producer in Group W's National Office.

After leaving broadcasting, Larry owned and operated his own his own communications firms (LCE GROUP, LLC and Emsweller Marketing Strategies) where he took his talents and longtime experience to provide local businesses and business executives with marketing, media, crisis communication and advertising services, especially in the emerging area of  internet marketing. In his final years, Larry founded Christian Stewardship Consultants to help assist Christain Churches with the development of time, talent and treasure initiatives in their local religious communities.

Larry attended Aquinas College in Nashville and holds a MBA degree from the University of Tenneessee, after earlier receiving an undergraduate degree from UT-Nashville in Psychology/Business.

One of the many tributes being left to Larry on his Facebook page, includes this one from his fellow Sing-Out South castmate and Overton High schoolmate, Lyn Neal Walker. She wrote:

"He had a wonderful smile that just lit up the room. Even a young boy, he was a joy to be around. Prayers to his family and friends."

Amen. May he rest in peace. I will post more information about vistation and funeral arrangements for Larry as I learn them.