Lester Martin Crystal (September 13, 1934 – June 24, 2020) was an Emmy Award-winning American television news executive best known for being the founding executive producer of the nation’s first hour-long nightly newscast, ''The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'' (now called the ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

''), and also for being president of NBC News. He joined ''The NewsHour'' as executive producer in 1983 and was appointed president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions in 2005, a position he held until his retirement in 2010. Prior to PBS, Crystal had a 20-year career at NBC, where he was president of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

from 1977–79, executive producer of ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

'' from 1973–76, European field producer (based in London) of ''

'' from 1970-1973 and producer of ''

The Huntley-Brinkley Report ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' from 1968-1970. During his half-century in broadcast journalism, Crystal produced U.S. political convention and election night coverage for eight national elections from 1976 to 2004 for both NBC and PBS. He was part of the news delegation for United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China and produced NBC News' coverage of that historic visit. He won his first national Emmy Award in 1969 for producing an investigation of teenage drug addiction that aired on ''

The Huntley–Brinkley Report ''The Huntley–Brinkley Report'' (sometimes known as ''The Texaco Huntley–Brinkley Report'' for one of its early sponsors) was an American evening news program that aired on NBC from October 29, 1956, to July 31, 1970. It was anchored by Chet ...

''.

Personal life and education

Les Crystal was born to a Jewish family in Duluth, Minnesota on September 13, 1934, and graduated from

Duluth East High School East High School is a public secondary school in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It educates students in grades nine through twelve. It first opened its doors in 1927 as a junior high school. In 1950, it became a senior high school to serve the ...

in 1952. He earned Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees from Northwestern University’s

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

in 1956 and 1957, respectively. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Medill Hall of Achievement in 1997. He died on June 24, 2020, following a two-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer.

References

1934 births 2020 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Jewish American journalists Journalists from Minnesota Medill School of Journalism alumni PBS people People from Duluth, Minnesota Presidents of NBC News 21st-century American Jews Television producers from Minnesota {{US-tv-producer-stub