Moya Lear

By VARIETY STAFF

Moya Olsen Lear, theater activist, daughter of John "Ole" Olsen of the famed Olsen and Johnson vaudeville team, and the widow of Learjet inventor, Bill Lear, died Dec. 5 at the age of 86 in Reno, Nev.

She died of complications from a head injury after suffering a fall last month. She also underwent lung surgery 15 months ago

She was a major benefactor of the Theater Coalition of Reno, which transformed a neoclassic revival Christian Science Church into the Lear Theater following her $1.1 million donation in 1997. She had attended the church and taught Sunday school in the building for about 30 years.

She also served on the boards of the Nevada Opera Association, the Nevada Festival Ballet and the Sierra Arts Foundation.

She married the inventor in 1942; he died of leukemia in 1978.