Richard Charles Wald was an American television executive who held the position of president of NBC News from 1973 until 1977 and senior vice president of ABC News from 1978 until 1999.
He served in these capacities between the years 1978 and 1999. He passed away on May 13, 2022, having been born on March 19, 1930, and having lived till then. The 13th of May, 2022 was the day he passed away.
Early life and Education
In the year 1930, Wald was born in Manhattan to a man whose father had immigrated to the United States from Austria. He began his education at Stuyvesant High School and continued it at Columbia College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952. He graduated from both institutions.
During his time at Columbia College, he lived in an apartment with three of his classmates: Roone Arledge, who would later become president of ABC News; Larry Grossman, who would later become president of PBS and NBC News; and Max Frankel, who would later become executive editor of The New York Times. During his time at Columbia College, he also served as president of Columbia College.
After that, he continued his study by attending Clare College in Cambridge, United Kingdom, on a fellowship, where he received a master's degree in English studies.
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Career
The New York Herald Tribune hired Wald as a reporter and foreign correspondent, and he ascended through the ranks to become the paper's final managing editor before it closed its doors in 1966. Wald's career in journalism began there.
There were notable New Journalism luminaries like Jim Bellows and Jimmy Breslin among his colleagues at the Tribune. In addition to his work at the New York World Journal Tribune and The Washington Post, he joined NBC in 1967 after serving as the paper's Sunday editor.
Wald took over as head of NBC News in the new year. Paddy Chayefsky followed him around for two days when he was creating Network, and William Holden's role in the film was based on him.
Foreseeing the rise of a dedicated news channel within 10 years, Wald made a lecture in 1976 in which he predicted that television news will evolve beyond half-hour, nightly broadcasts and eventually become continuous.
It's fair to say that his statements gained even more traction following the advent of 24-hour news networks like CNN (which debuted four years after his speech).
Wald parted ways with the network in 1977 as a result of disagreements with the administration about low ratings. In 1978, Roone Arledge, who was serving as president of ABC News at the time, recruited him to be in charge of managing the day-to-day operations of the news division.
Wald was given a promotion to the position of senior vice president for editorial quality, earning him the moniker label “ethical czar” of the network.
In this role, Wald was responsible for ensuring that potential articles adhered to acceptable levels of journalistic quality. While serving as Arledge's deputy, he came up with the name “Nightline” and assisted in launching the program in 1979.
He also recruited reporters like David Brinkley to work for the network. In 1999, he took his retirement from ABC News.
After that, Wald began his teaching career at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where he eventually rose through the ranks to become the Fred W. Friendly Professor of Professional Practice in Media Society Emeritus.
Net worth
On Friday, May 13, 2022, Richard Wald took his last breath and went away. It is unknown how much money he had in his bank account when he passed away.
Aside from his work in the field, he was also a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he held the title of Fred W. Friendly Professor of Professional Practice in Media Society Emeritus.
Personal life
Wald was married to his wife, who had formerly gone by the name Edith Leslie, from the year 1954 until the time of her death in the year 2021. They were successful in raising three children as a unit.
The man's son, Jonathan Wald, is a prominent media executive and a success story in his own right.
He has worked at MSNBC as the senior vice president of Programming and Development and at NBC Nightly News as the executive producer of both programs at various points in his career.
Richard Wald Cause of Death
According to the results of a brief investigation, Richard passed away unexpectedly from a stroke-related disease. A number of years ago, Richard Wald served in the role of president of NBC News.
One of his many achievements is that he was responsible for elevating Tom Brokaw from the position of White House reporter to that of the anchor of the Today program many years ago. One year later, though, he decided to bring on Jane Pauley to co-host the show with him.
