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Hugh Downs

Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921 – July 1, 2020) was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular television presence from the mid 1940s until the late 1990s, he had several successful roles on morning, prime-time, and late-night television. For several years he held the certified Guinness World Record for the most hours on commercial network television before being surpassed by Regis Philbin.

Downs served as announcer and sidekick for Tonight Starring Jack Paar from 1957 to 1962, co-host of the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971,host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978 to 1999.

Downs started his career in radio in 1939 and began in live television in 1945 in Chicago, where he became a regular on several nationally broadcast programs over the next decade. He moved to New York City in 1954, when he was invited to do a program there. Among other shows during his career, he hosted the PBS talk show Over Easy and was the occasional co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.

Early life

Downs was born in 1921 in Akron, Ohio, to Edith (née Hicks) and Milton Howard Downs, who worked in business.He was educated at Lima Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio; Bluffton College, a Mennonite school in Bluffton, Ohio; and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, during the period 1938–41.

Radio announcer and programmer

Downs worked as a radio announcer and program director in 1939 at WLOK in Lima, Ohio, after his first year of college.[12] In 1940, he moved on to WWJ in Detroit. Downs served in the United States Army during World War II in 1943 and then joined the NBC radio network at WMAQ as an announcer in Chicago, where he lived until 1954.While at WMAQ, Downs also acted, including as the "co-pilot", along with famed Chicago children's program personality Ned Locke, on the Uncle Ned's Squadron program in 1951. Programs of "Uncle Ned's Squadron" can be found in the archives of Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, and, at no charge, from radio historian Chuck Schaden's "Speaking Of Radio - Those Were The Days Encore" website. Downs then attended Columbia University in New York City from 1955 to 1956.

Downs was a special consultant to the United Nations for refugee problems from 1961 to 1964, and served as chairman of the board of the United States Committee for UNICEF.

Downs wrote a column for Science Digest during the 1960s. He was a science consultant for Westinghouse Laboratories and the Ford Foundation and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as chair of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society until 2019 and was a longtime president and chairman of the society's predecessor, the National Space Institute.The asteroid 71000 Hughdowns is named after him.

The auditorium of Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio and the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona are named in his honor.

As part of Arizona's centennial celebration in February 2012, Downs narrated Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait on stage with the Phoenix Symphony.

Downs publicly expressed support for libertarian viewpoints. He opposed the U.S. war on drugs and appeared in several pieces about the war on drugs and hemp.On his last 20/20, he was asked if he had any personal opinions that he would like to express, and he responded that marijuana should be legalized.

Personal life

Downs married Ruth Shaheen on February 17, 1944. They had two children, Deirdre and H.R.Ruth died on March 28, 2017, at age 95.

Downs held a private pilot certificate, and was rated for multi-engine airplanes, single-engine seaplanes, hot air balloons, and glider aerotow.

Death

On July 1, 2020, at the age of 99, Downs died from heart failure at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was interred at the Christ Church of the Ascension Memory Garden in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Courtesy--wikipedia
- Hugh Downs

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