Dick Clark Dies -- Staff Informed of Mogul's Death at 'Emotional' Office Meeting

The staff at Dick Clark Productions learned about the death of their fearless leader directly from the honchos at the company ... during an "emotional" company meeting hours before the news got out to the public ... TMZ has learned.

Sources at DCP tell us ... the staff is a pretty tight knit group and the people who run the company wanted to make sure the employees were the first to know about Dick's passing.

One staffer tells us, "It was an emotional meeting."

We're told the staff has been discussing plans to honor their late boss with a permanent memorial in the office ... but so far, nothing is set in stone.