Hartford N. Gunn Jr. (1927- January 2, 1986) was the founding President of the Public Broadcasting Service (
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
).
Early life
Gunn was born in 1927 in Port Washington, New York.
Career
In 1969 as manager of
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's sec ...
, Gunn invited
Fred Rogers
Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television se ...
to accompany him and testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in support of the full funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 1970 he was chosen as the first president of the Public Broadcasting Service, at least in part due to his “widely acknowledged success in the 1960s at the Boston television station
WGBH WGBH may refer to:
* WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation
** WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...
.” At the time he started (after receiving an MBA at the
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in 1951),
. He helped it add the television station there and became the general manager.
(Note: The LA Times reported he started in 1952, a year after he graduated)
Gunn became vice-chairman of PBS in 1976. He was general manager of
KCET
KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...
, (at the time it was the public TV station in Los Angeles) from 1979 until 1983. Before his death he worked as a public television consultant in
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
where he had lived.
Death
On January 2, 1986, Gunn died of cancer at
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
at the age of 59.
He was survived by his mother Edith Arnold Gunn of
Glen Cove and his cousin Dr. Albert E. Gunn of
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.
See also
*
Ralph B. Rogers
References
Harvard Business School alumni
Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts
People from Port Washington, New York
People from Annapolis, Maryland
PBS people
WGBH Educational Foundation
1927 births
1986 deaths
{{US-tv-bio-stub