Richard Noonan, an army officer who went on to a successful careers in business and politics before co-founding 44 Blue Productions, a supplier of programming for numerous broadcast and cable outlets, died December 11, 20101. He was 78.

According to news reports, the cause was cancer.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Noonan was a standout athlete at Missouri Military Academy, where he ran track and was a Golden Gloves boxer. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Noonan’s service included deployment in Vietnam, and his commendations included Silver and Bronze stars for valor in combat and the Purple Heart. He retired in 1974, after which he went to work for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in labor relations. In 1976, he accepted a job at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and settled with his wife and three children in the suburb of Lake Oswego.

In the ensuing years he worked in insurance and was also active in his community in such organizations as Sertoma Club, U.S. Pony Club, the Trumpeters, the Central Eastside Industrial Council, and as executive director of the Oregon Republican Party.

Later, President George H. W. Bush appointed him to the Department of Labor and a seat on the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

In 1984, along with his daughter, Stephanie, and his son-in-law, Rasha Drachkovitch, Noonan co-founded 44 Blue Productions, based in Studio City, California. The company is a leading supplier of nonfiction, reality, how-to, lifestyle and action-adventure programming. Networks that have commissioned series from 44 Blue includes A&E, Animal Planet, CBS, Discovery Channel, ESPN, HBO, History Channel, Lifetime, MSNBC, Nickelodeon, PBS, Spike TV, Style Channel, TLC and truTV. Its productions include the series Split Ends, Stringers: L.A., Pit Bulls and Parolees and Lockup.

Noonan was the president of the Oregon Film & Video Foundation, and d During the Kosovo conflict in the 1990s, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, he appeared as an analyst for Fox News.

Noona’s wife, Sandra, wife died in 1987. He is survived by his daughter, two sons and seven grandchildren.