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Don Hewitt

Don HewittAKA Donald Shepard Hewitt

Born: 14-Dec-1922
Birthplace: New York City
Died: 19-Aug-2009
Location of death: Bridgehampton, NY
Cause of death: Cancer - Pancreatic

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Film/TV Producer, Journalist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: 60 Minutes creator

Before creating the magazine news juggernaut that is 60 Minutes in 1968, Don Hewitt already had an established career in television. He was, for instance, the original producer of CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. And he is well known as the man who produced and directed the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates.

Known as a hard man to work for, Hewitt had a reputation as a major prick. When original 60 Minutes correspondent Harry Reasoner was fighting the cancer that finally killed him, Hewitt reportedly yanked him off the program with a shocking insensitivity. Hewitt finally handed over 60 Minutes, the most profitable program in the history of television, to Jeffrey Fager in June 2004.

Father: Ely
Wife: Mary Weaver (d. 1960s)
Son: Jeffrey Hewitt
Son: Steven Hewitt
Wife: Frankie Childers (div.)
Daughter: Lisa Cassara
Daughter: Jilian Hewitt
Wife: Marilyn Berger (m. 1979)

    High School: New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle, NY (1940)
    University: New York University (dropped out)

    The New York Herald Tribune
    Stars and Stripes War Correspondent
    The New York Herald Tribune Head copy boy (1941)
    Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame
    Peabody 1989
    Emmy 8 times
    Angioplasty (Oct-2001)
    Russian Ancestry
    German Ancestry
    Jewish Ancestry
    Risk Factors: Pancreatic Cancer

    TELEVISION
    60 Minutes Creator, Executive Producer (1968-2004)
    60 Minutes II Creator

Author of books:
60 Minutes: Minute by Minute (1985)
Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television (2001, memoir, with Michael G. Ruby)


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