Condolences: Gene Wooten
• Gene Wooten, who served as Creative Services Director for WPLJ/New York from 1985-2002, died Sunday morning at the age of 63 after a battle with Cholangiocarcenoma, one of the rarest forms of liver cancer. The news of Gene’s passing was posted by his daughter Katie Raby on the GoFundMe page that was established in Sept. 2016 to help the Wooten family defray their mounting medical expenses. Katie wrote, “Our wonderful Gene passed away peacefully early this morning in his home surrounded by his wife, 2 kids and son-in-law. We miss him so much but know he is with the Lord in no more pain! Funeral and service details to come. We cannot thank you all enough for the generous support throughout this long, 20-month journey.”
Dave Stewart, now with WCBS-FM/New York worked with Wooten for 12 years when they were both at WPLJ. In a Facebook post, Stewart said, “Gene had one of the greatest voices in the business and was a remarkably kind, humble friend. Simply the best. Gene’s passing was expected, peaceful, and he was surrounded by his family. This is a particularly tough loss for everyone who had the good fortune of knowing and/or working with him.”
WOR/New York PD Tom Cuddy was Wooten’s boss for many years when he was running WPLJ, and he was kind enough to share a favorite Gene Wooten memory, telling RAMP, “In the early ’90s Chicago was performing on the Today show, and I invited Gene to join me backstage at NBC to meet the band. What Gene didn’t know was I had planned for a gold record be made and inscribed to him that Chicago was going to present to him when he walked into their dressing room. I will never forget the expression on his face when all the band members gathered around and handed him the framed gold disc!”
Pictured, during that presentation, (l-r): Chicago members Walt Parazaider and Tris Imboden, Gene Wooten, Tom Cuddy (back to camera), and Chicago members Bill Champlin, Lee Loughnane and James Pankow. [Photo courtesy of Tom Cuddy]
