brescianiDick Bresciani, a longtime PR executive and VP for the Boston Red Sox, died Nov. 29 after complications from leukemia. He was 76.

Bresciani joined the team's PR department in 1972 as an assistant PR director and served in several roles including PR director, VP of PR, and VP of public affairs for the team. He has served as team historian in recent years.

"The Red Sox family has lost a beloved and loyal member, and we offer our deepest sympathies to his beloved [wife] Joanne," Sox president Larry Lucchino said in a statement, calling Bresciani "like a father to some members of our front office, an attentive uncle to many and the institutional memory to all."

Breciani won Major League Baseball's top PR honor, the Robert O. Fishel Award, in 1997.

Prior to the Sox, he was assistant sports information director at UMass for 11 years. He was also the director of PRand statistics for the Cape Cod Summer Baseball League from 1967-71.

The Sox have produced a video tribute at redsox.mlb.com.