He died Sunday in Los Angeles from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
During a four-decade career, Shea directed hundreds of episodes for shows such as "Silver Spoons" and "Sanford & Son," along with many Bob Hope specials.
He was president of the Directors Guild from 1997 to 2002. Current President Taylor Hackford says Shea worked to bring women and minorities into guild service.
In 1999, Shea and the DGA board renamed the guild's D.W. Griffith Award as the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award. The guild said that Griffith's classic film, "Birth of a Nation," glorified the Ku Klux Klan and fostered racial stereotypes.
