Luke O'Reilly

1948 - 2017

June 21, 1948 - June 21, 2017 Luke O'Reilly was born on 21st June 1948 in Liverpool, England, and succumbed to cancer after a brave fight on 21st June 2017 in Los Angeles. From the earliest age Luke showed natural yet extraordinary sporting abilities. His parents' interest in alpine sports led him to skiing and he quickly became competitive. Water-skiing followed soon after. He started picking up prizes and awards from the earliest of ages. But it was skiing that became his 'main event' and he was picked for the British Olympic ski-team in the Winter Olympics of Grenoble, France, in February 1968. At that time, one of the youngest Alpine skiers in a Winter Olympics team. Later that same year Luke arrived at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire - joining the Heorot fraternity where he earned his Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) and graduated early in 1971. Soon after his graduation Luke skipped over to his parallel interest - music, and became a Radio DJ in Philadelphia at WMMR (93.3 FM). In his element in the days when you were encouraged to express your interest in the music you played, Luke's English accent sat well with the listeners in Philly. Then on a trip back to England in 1972 Luke went to an Al Stewart concert and was so taken by his performance and potential that he persuaded Al to change management - and so Luke became a music manager. This partnership lead to Al's highly acclaimed "Past, Present & Future" album. Luke worked closely with Janus Records in the US and that team spawned the globally-acclaimed single "Year of the Cat" and it's platinum-selling album of the same name in 1976. Luke's Kinetic Productions Ltd was a talent management and record production company and included artists like The Chieftains, Shot in the Dark and Joe Strummer. He also had highly successful involvement with UK band The Fixx, carried him into the '80s representing US management - where the band had a sequence of four major album successes peaking with the top 5 single "One Thing Leads to Another" from the top 10 "Reach the Beach" album. In the early '90s, and for nearly 20 years, Luke ran a software company called Concertworks that capitalised on his experience as a manager and was aimed at being every tour manager's 'go-to' software for managing all aspects, both financial and administrative, of live touring. It is worth noting that, also in the music-tech space, Luke created a company called Allsonic LLC in 2002 that was both a download, and more significantly streaming company, some 10 years before its time. His final project was a new company based around the successful property development and real estate work of Luke's partner & wife of 30+ years, Jeeb, called Foxtrot Oscar RE Inc. The reference to the phonetic alphabet echoing Luke's long-term passion for planes. A hobby that included owning a Tiger Moth bi-plane in the late '70s and led to him becoming a highly qualified flying instructor (up to and including commercial grade). Luke's interest in sports never waned and one of the last things he did with Jeeb and friends in the hospital just a couple of days before he passed, was watch the America's Cup with focused attention and interest. He was an avid fan of the Tour de France and was looking forward to July 1st. This bright-minded, intelligent music-lover, pilot, businessman, Radio DJ, Olympic Sportsman, software-designer, devoted husband is immediately and deeply missed by the many whose lives he touched and helped so memorably along their way. He is survived by his wife, Jeeb O'Reilly and his stepson, Tori Barnao, of DE Real Estate, and his daughter-in-law to be, Diana Pratasiewicz, and loving mother-in-law Shirley Naiman. You will never be forgotten dear Luke.