Richard C. Wald, who was the last managing editor of The New York Herald Tribune, ran NBC News in the 1970s and helped turn ABC News into a powerhouse, died on Friday at the age of 92.
Matthew said the cause was a stroke.
When Mr. Wald joined ABC News in 1978, Roone Arledge was the president and he had built his reputation in sports. The division was built by Mr. Wald and Mr. Arledge, classmates at Columbia College.
The reporter Carl Bernstein, who was briefly the ABC News bureau chief in Washington and later a correspondent for the division, said thatDick was the perfect No. 2 because he had great news values and a great feel for events.
Mr. Wald, who was known as Dick, and Mr. Arledge lured the anchor David Brinkley from NBC News, where he was unhappy, to host what would become a hit Sunday morning program.
Mr. Wald was a key player in the ABC News business, particularly when it came to the news desk, the news bureaus, overseas.
Mr. Wald gave the network's celebrated late-night news program a name.
At the time, it was called America Held Hostage, and it was about the hostage crisis in Iran, where Americans had been seized by Islamic fundamentalists. Going forward, the plan was to make it 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465.
Ted Koppel recalled a meeting with Mr. Arledge, Mr. Wald and David Burke.
The morning line is a thing in horse racing. The three of us said that, Mr. Koppel said in a phone interview.
Mr. Wald was an ethics czar at ABC News in the 1990s, looking at segments and programs before they aired to make sure the network did not broadcast flawed stories.
Mr. Wald told The Christian Science Monitor that he gets all of the blame when things go wrong.
Mr. Wald advised Barbara to not use a video of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in her interview.
Mr. Wald taught national affairs reporting and critical issues in journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Richard Charles Wald was born in Manhattan. Joseph was an Austrian immigrant who owned a garment factory. His mother was a homemaker.
Mr. Wald received a master's degree in English from the University of Cambridge after studying English for two years on a fellowship.
He had worked for The Herald Tribune in college. He was a reporter, foreign correspondent, executive editor of national news and associate editor before being named managing editor in 1966.
Jimmy Breslin and Tom Wolfe were two of the Herald Tribune writers who helped define the New Journalism. The newspaper folded after six months with Mr. Wald as managing editor.
Mr. Wald gave the Sunday supplement to Clay Felker, the founder of New York magazine.
Jonathan Wald said in a phone interview that his father told Jock Whitney to let Clay take the magazine.
The Sunday editor of The New York World Journal Tribune was Mr. Wald, who was also the editor of The Herald Tribune, Journal-American and World-Telegram.
He was an assistant managing editor at The Washington Post. He left when he realized that he wouldn't rise higher as long as Bradlee was the editor.
He was named a vice president of NBC News in 1968 and became president five years later. He hired Jane Pauley as the co- host of the Today show in 1976, after moving Tom Brokaw from White House correspondent to host. He created a special unit to produce long-form reports for NBC Nightly News.
Mr. Chayefsky watched as Mr. Wald talked to colleagues.
Mr. Chayefsky was very funny about some of the people he had seen.
Mr. Wald resigned from NBC News in 1977 after disagreements with the network's upper management over issues like the signing of exclusive and expensive contracts with former President Gerald R. Ford and his wife, Betty.
The New York Times reported at the time that he felt that the fees paid had led to cuts in his budget for special news reports and documentaries.
Mr. Wald was a special assistant to the publisher of The Los Angeles Times for three months after leaving NBC.
Mr. Wald had to adjust to the culture in the Washington bureau, which did not greet him happily, after Mr. Arledge recruited him to join ABC News in 1978.
Frank Reynolds is one of three ABC newscasters on World News Tonight.
Mr. Wald stayed for 21 years.
Mr. Wald had two sons, a former reporter for The New York Times and a former executive producer of NBC Nightly News. Edith Wald died in 2021.
Mr. Wald was the president of NBC News in 1976, four years before Ted Turner started CNN.
He said in a speech to the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians that within 10 years there will be an all-news television station. We could make that much picture with not a huge investment.
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