Lisa De Cazotte dead at 58 Young and Restless
Credit: Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI

Emmy-winning soap opera producer remembered as a family member and friend.

Soaps.com is sad to share the news that accomplished and well-loved daytime television producer, Lisa De Cazotte, passed away Saturday December 7 following a long illness at the age of 58. Former CBS daytime vice-president, Angelica McDaniel took to social media to mourn her passing and said, “Last night we lost a light in this world.” Young and Restless’ Jason Thompson (Billy Abbott), who had worked with De Cazotte on General Hospital: Night Shift as well as Y&R, also remembered her in a post, as did Bold and Beautiful’s vice-president of communications, Eva Basler, who remarked, “Lisa de Cazotte was also an extraordinary woman & will forever be my #Sista. The immense amount of love, light & laughter we shared on this journey has filled my heart from now until eternity. My prayers are with her beloved Antoine. I know she’s having a Martimmy with JER.”

De Cazotte was born Lisa Smith in Westchester, New York in 1961 and later graduated from Fordham University before becoming an intern at One Life to Live, which taped on the east coast. She used the name Lisa Hesser professionally until 2002 when she married Oscar-winning French filmmaker Antoine De Cazotte. The producer is survived by her husband, her brother Michael Patrick Smith, Robert Terence Smith, and Brian Charles Smith, along with many nieces and nephews. Her parents passed away previously.

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In the early 90s, Lisa De Cazotte worked her way up to coordinating producer at One Life to Live before moving on to become a producer on Santa Barbara. The next step in her career was producer, then supervising producer, on Sunset Beach. By the year 2000, De Cazotte was made executive producer on Passions, where she stayed until 2008, the year she also executive-produced General Hospital: Night Shift. In 2009 – 2010, she became a producer on All My Children, before joining Ken Corday and Greg Meng as an executive producer on Days of our Lives, a team that won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama. De Cazotte left NBC in 2015 and joined Young and Restless as a supervising producer in 2017, where she won another Daytime Emmy. She was still producing the CBS daytime soap opera at the time of her death.

Soaps.com mourns the passing of the talented Lisa De Cazotte and extends condolences to her loved ones and co-workers. Please feel free to remember other daytime television talents we’ve lost this year through our gallery.