Daily publisher, Edward Gaylord, dies

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Edward Lewis Gaylord, the publisher of The Daily Oklahoman who expanded the media company his father started into a diverse business empire, has died. <br><br>Gaylord died Sunday

Monday, April 28th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Edward Lewis Gaylord, the publisher of The Daily Oklahoman who expanded the media company his father started into a diverse business empire, has died.

Gaylord died Sunday night from complications from cancer, the newspaper reported. He was 83.

Gaylord assumed the leadership of The Oklahoma Publishing Company in 1974 after the death of his father, E.K. Gaylord.

But the younger Gaylord began diversifying the company a decade prior.

In the 1970s, he established the Gaylord Production Co., which produced the syndicated series, ``Hee Haw,'' and the ``Glen Campbell Show.''

In 1983, the company acquired the Opryland complex in Nashville, Tenn. for $240 million.

Gaylord is survived by his four children and their families and a sister, Virginia Neely, of Cashiers, North Carolina.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.