New York, NY (August 31, 2026)—Pro-audio executive Larry Italia has died, having passed quietly at home on August 13, 2026 following a brief illness. Across his decades-long career as an executive in pro audio and MI, Italia worked for numerous top companies, including Yamaha, Sound Image and d&b audiotechnik. He was 70.
Laurence Sebastiano Italia was born on June 11, 1956; in the years that followed, he proved to be a musical child prodigy with a natural talent for guitar. Playing professional gigs by age 13 and adept at numerous genres, the young musician performed in the U.S. and abroad, even going to France during his college years to perform Occitan [provincial French folk music]. Italia remained a musician for life, and maintained what he termed “a serious” home studio, even as his business career overtook his musical aspirations.
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Italia recalled in a 2003 Pro Sound News interview that it was a part-time music store job during college that led to his audio career, thanks to a friendship with a local equipment rep: “He was the rep for Yamaha’s synthesizer stuff, and no one at the music store knew how to work a synthesizer. I figured out how to work them just out of boredom. Who knew? I started to sell them. All of sudden, the rep is paying attention to me; he took me to dinner a couple of times and we became pals. Once or twice a year, he’d give me a call to see how I was doing, and then out of the blue, he called and said, ‘We have a spot at Yamaha. Why don’t you come out and interview for it? You’d like it.’ So I did, and here I am.”
Italia joined Yamaha as a district sales manager in the Professional Audio Division and worked his way up the ranks, eventually rising to vice president of Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. Throughout that era, he developed a reputation for hands-on leadership; as he explained to PSN, “I don’t sit in an office, read trade magazines and figure I know what’s going on. I don’t think that works. I travel a bit and go out and see people; I don’t just rely on my product guys or whatever to tell me what’s going on out there. I like to go see for myself.”
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In 2018, Italia moved on to become president and CEO of d&b audiotechnik Americas, and soon led that company through expansion on both coasts, considerable growth and the complexities of the Covid pandemic. Italia held both roles at d&b until he retired at the end of last year.
He is survived by his wife, Beth Italia; his parents Marge and Al Italia; and his brothers John Italia and Tony Italia.
