the Today’s show host Jim Hartz died last week at the age of 82, according to Deadline. His wife revealed that he died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Born in 1940 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hartz began his career after college as a reporter for KOTV in Tulsa while hosting the channel’s morning show, sun rise. He then left for NBC in New York, anchoring for WNBC before being selected to host the Today’s show opposite Barbara Walters in 1974.
During his tenure at the Today’s show, Hartz covered the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, the conclusion of the Vietnam War, and the American bicentennial. However, he was the show’s anchor until 1976, when he became co-anchor of evening news at ABC. In the early 1990s, Hartz joined PBS to host a joint production with Japanese public broadcasting company NHK – Asia now.
Hartz later became chairman of the Will Rogers Memorial Commission in Claremore, Oklahoma. He is survived by his wife Alexandra Dickson Hartz, his two daughters Jana Hartz Maher and Nancy Hartz Cole, his six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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