William Geist is an American retired author, columnist, and television

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Early life

Geist was born on May 10, 1945 in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a combat photographer with the 1st Infantry Division in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, where he was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. He attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, graduating with a BA in Communications (1968), and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, graduating with an MA in Communications (1971).

Career

Geist began his career in 1972 when he joined the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''s '' Suburban Trib'' subsidiary, where he worked as a reporter and columnist until 1980. From 1980 until 1987, he was a columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; his "About New York" column appeared twice a week. In August 1987, he joined CBS as a correspondent, where he contributed to '' CBS Evening News'', ''

60 Minutes II ''60 Minutes II'' (also known as ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' and ''60 Minutes'') is an American weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the origina ...

'' and

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

. He appeared regularly on '' CBS Sunday Morning'' hosted by Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood, where he offered the Everyman's perspective on American pop culture and current events. He announced his retirement on the program on September 16, 2018. Geist is the bestselling author of a number of books, including: * ''Toward a Safe & Sane Halloween & Other Tales of Suburbia'' (1985) * ''The Zucchini Plague and Other Tales of Suburbia'' (1987) * ''City Slickers'' (1990) * ''Little League Confidential: One Coach's Completely Unauthorized Tale of Survival'' (1992) * Monster Trucks and Hair in a Can: Who Says America Doesn't Make Anything Anymore? (1994) * ''The Big Five-Oh: Facing, Fearing, and Fighting Fifty'' (1997) * ''FORE! PLAY: The Last American Male Takes Up Golf'' (2001) * ''Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America'' (2007) * ''Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America'' (2019)

Awards and honors

Geist won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1992 and 2005. In 2011, he received a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

. In 2005, he was the commencement speaker at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

Personal life

Geist and his wife Jody, who were married in June 1970, live in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and have two children: Willie Geist, a television personality on NBC and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

; and Libby Geist Wildes, a documentary film producer at ESPN. On July 1, 2012, Geist confirmed on '' CBS Sunday Morning'' that he has

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. On September 16, 2018, Geist announced his retirement on ''CBS Sunday Morning''.

References

External links

*
''CBS Sunday Morning''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geist, Bill 1945 births Living people American newspaper reporters and correspondents American television reporters and correspondents American columnists American humorists Emmy Award winners University of Missouri alumni People from Champaign, Illinois People with Parkinson's disease University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media alumni Journalists from Illinois United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War