Heart Attack Kills TV Legend Stan Daniels

Stan Daniels, the Emmy-winning co-creator and executive producer of "Taxi" and a writer on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," has died. He was 72.

The Toronto-born Daniels died of heart failure April 6, according to Mount Sinai Memorial Park, where a funeral was planned for Thursday.

Daniels won eight Emmys during his long television career, including three for "Taxi" and three for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

He wrote for "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Bill Cosby Show" before starting as a writer on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which ran from 1970 to 1977. He also wrote for the Cloris Leachman spin-off series "Phyllis."

Daniels co-created the Brenda Vaccaro series "Lily," and co-wrote the African-American Cinderella TV movie "Cindy" with James L. Brooks, whom he worked with on "Taxi."

Daniels then expanded his role to producer and directed, as well as writer, of the TV shows "The Kid," "For Richer, For Poorer," "Glory! Glory!" and "The Substitute Wife."

As a teenager, Daniels won piano competitions and he then attended the University of Toronto before receiving a fellowship to study at Oxford.

A talented writer of music as well as TV shows, Daniels composed music and lyrics for the Broadway musical "So Long 174th Street" with a book by Joseph Stein. His musical version of the Bernard Slade play "Same Time, Next Year" was produced in Budapest in 2001.

Daniels is survived by his wife of 50 years, Alene; children Dari, Shelley, Alan and Larry, and two grandsons.