Kevin Arkadie, the author and two-time Emmy-nominated producer who teamed with Dick Wolf to create Recent York Undercover and worked on such other series as NYPD Blue, Chicago Hope and The Shield, has died. He was 68.
Arkadie lived in Los Angeles and died Wednesday, relatives on social media announced. In July, he posted a video on Instagram noting that he was coping with kidney failure.
“This man right here was one in all America’s best storytellers,” cousin and producer L True Green wrote on Facebook. “He has eternally modified the landscape of creativity … he’s the rationale I even have remained in the humanities as a author today.”
Recent York Undercover, which ran for 4 seasons on Fox from 1994-99, was the primary police drama with Black and Latino leads (played by Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo, respectively).
Arkadie was nominated for an Emmy in 1996 and 1998 for the coveted outstanding drama series prize for producing Chicago Hope and NYPD Blue, and he won a WGA America Award for his work on the Noggin series Miracle’s Boys in 2006.
Born in Washington on Dec. 10, 1957, Arkadie moved to Maryland after which to Dallas, where he graduated with a BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University. He settled in Los Angeles to pursue a profession in entertainment and landed a staff job as a author on the 1991-93 NBC drama series I’ll Fly Away.
His other credits included Knightwatch, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Law & Order, High Incident, Rescue 77, The Temptations, Ambitions, The Quad and Sacrifice.
Two-time Tony-winning producer Lamar Richardson, who recently worked with Arkadie on Freeman Ranch — a TV drama in development a few family that runs the primary Black-owned ranch in Texas — paid tribute to Arkadie in a press release shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
“Kevin was the primary showrunner to sign on to one in all our TV projects at Ivy Lion, and we spent plenty of time with him developing and pitching together this 12 months,” he said. “He was a consummate skilled, true collaborator and astute researcher. Every thing was all the time in service of telling the most effective story.
“It’s not lost on us that he was willing to say yes to a young production company and newer author in an industry where first likelihood is seldom given freely. It was necessary to him to take a position in the subsequent generation of diverse voices, and we’re extremely grateful to have partnered with him.”