Pioneering television director, Larry Auerbach -- whose credits include a 28-year run with the CBS daytime drama Love of Life -- died from complications of glioblastoma on Saturday, December 20. He was 91.

The pioneering director helmed Love of Life from 1951 to 1980, where he worked with stars like Warren Beatty, Jessica Walters, Dana Delaney, Peter Falk, Christopher Reeve, Roy Schneider, Jon Voigt, and Ray Wise (Ian Ward, The Young and the Restless).

Auerbach then went on to direct All My Children, Another World, As the World Turns, and One Life to Live, for which he won a Daytime Emmy. He also served as a trailblazer during soaps' evolution from live 15-minute broadcasts to the one-hour taped productions fans see today. In fact, Auerbach was known as such a soap opera expert that Dustin Hoffman consulted with him for his role in the 1982 comedic film Tootsie, which was set in the world of daytime dramas.

In addition to directing, the New York native served as the national vice president and as a member of the national board of the Directors Guild of America. He was also named a DGA Honorary Life Member in 2004.

Said DGA president Paris Barclay in a statement released this weekend: "Larry worked tirelessly, out of love for his guild and his profession, to ensure better working conditions and stronger protection of creative rights for guild members, and he was instrumental in raising the profile of daytime serial directors, the genre to which he dedicated his career. He was a dynamo -- a strong and powerful voice for our members for decades -- and we will miss him greatly."

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