Gregory B. Shriver

Longtime Raleigh resident Gregory B. Shriver died on November 22 at age 55, during a visit with his parents in New York City, Donald W. Shriver and Peggy L. Shriver.
Shriver was a self-trained audio-engineer who exercised his communication skills in corporations, theaters, and public events in the Triangle area, in New York City, and in many European locations. He designed and operated audio systems for Harry Belafonte, Philip Glass, and the Dalai Lama and was a principal developer of the "Breakthroughs" television series on PBS featuring new discoveries in the medical sciences. Among the corporations who contracted for his work were Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, the John Deere Company, and the major universities and hospitals of North Carolina.
He was born in Norfolk, VA, and lived in Raleigh since 1962. He was early employed as technical director of Thompson Theater at NCSU. At age 19 he founded Stage and Studio Construction Services. He designed and built sound studios, theater structures, and audio equipment for some 250 events, including Glass’s "Einstein on the Beach" at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976, Belafonte’s seventy-venue tour of Europe in 1977, and the 1980 address of President Jimmy Carter at Meredtih College in Raleigh. He was especially proud to have managed the audio system for the Dalai Lama’s 1976 press conference in the St. Mark’s Cathedral in New York.
In his later years he was a consultant and video designer for InSight Productions, Inc., in Durham, where he sepcialized in corporate management training video-conferencing and virtual stage effects.
His last nine years of life suffered from the effects of a nearly fatal highway accident which left him partly disabled. His death in November stemmed largely from severe breathing problems.
He is survived by his two former wives Bonnie and Deborah; two children from his first marriage, Nicholas and Joyce; a sister, Lionel Shriver of London and New York; a brother, Timothy of Coralville, Iowa, and his two parents of New York.
A memorial service will be held this coming Monday, December 14th, at 4:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Durham.
In lieu of flowers, the parents request that gifts be made to either of two causes: Urban Ministries of Durham, 412 Liberty Street, Durham 27701, or the Shriver International Scholarship Endowment of Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027.