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Richard O'Brien, the creative director whose pioneering work helped build Fox News into America's most watched and most trusted cable news channel, died over the weekend.

O’Brien, a senior vice president at Fox News, played a key role in designing the look of the network from the time it was a fledging cable channel in 1996 through its unparalleled success over the next two decades.

Jon Scott, host of Fox News Channel's "Happening Now," called O'Brien's work “groundbreaking.”

“He literally changed the look of TV on this network and our competitors changed to try and catch up,” Scott said Monday.

A Connecticut native, O'Brien got his start on CNBC and went on to help create "America’s Talking," which later became MSNBC.

At Fox, he was known for his diligence and creativity.

“For 20 years Rich was at his desk here before 6 a.m. even after an hour-long train ride from his home in Connecticut,” Scott said.

O’Brien died a week before he would have turned 61. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and a son and daughter.