Mary G. F. Bitterman
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Mary G. F. Bitterman (born 1944) is an American historian and former media executive. She currently serves as president of The
Bernard Osher Bernard Osher (born 1927) is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist. Life and career Osher was born to a Jewish family and raised in Biddeford, Maine. In 1948, he graduated with a B.A. from Bowdoin College. He ...
Foundation, a philanthropic organization headquartered in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
that supports higher education and arts. She is a former director of the Voice of America and was the youngest person and the first female to hold that position.


Biography

Bitterman received her B.A. from Santa Clara University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Modern European History from
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...
in Pennsylvania. She married Morton Edward Bitterman (1921–2011) and has three daughters.


Media production

Early in her career, Bitterman produced documentaries for public television and has written about the development of telecommunications and the role of media in developing societies around the world. She was named director of Hawaii Public Broadcasting Authority in 1974 at the age of 30, the youngest individual and the first woman to head a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
television station.


Voice of America

As the 15th Director of
Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
(VOA), she was the youngest person to hold that position and the first woman to do so. She remained in that position from 1980 to 1981 and during that time, Iran was still holding 52 Americans
hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...
s and there was a resurgence of state-sponsored jamming of Western international broadcasters, including VOA. According to the VOA website, she made an impact on several levels.
"Bitterman’s accomplishments at VOA are many: Through her personal connections in China, she arranged the first exchange of broadcasters between VOA and China; she began VOA’s Dari broadcasting after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; she worked to ensure the safety of more than 250 U.S. international broadcasting personnel during Liberia’s bloody coup d’etat; and coped with the jamming of VOA Polish at the rise of the Solidarity trade union."


Broadcasting and philanthropy

From 1993 to 2002 she was president and CEO of the primary PBS affiliate in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, station KQED. In 2002, Bitterman was named president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation. In that same year, she became a member of the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
board of directors and was board chairman from 2005 to 2007. She is credited with overseeing the establishment of the PBS Endowment Fund and she "grew the Foundation into a robust operation that raised a record-setting $51 million last year 019" She is on the
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) is a nonpartisan economic research institution housed at Stanford University. It was founded in 1982 as a way to bring together economic scholars from different parts of the University. ...
advisory council and has been a member of the steering committee of Project Dana, a Hawaii-based, volunteer caregiving project for the frail elderly and disabled.


The Bernard Osher Foundation

Bitterman became president of The
Bernard Osher Bernard Osher (born 1927) is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist. Life and career Osher was born to a Jewish family and raised in Biddeford, Maine. In 1948, he graduated with a B.A. from Bowdoin College. He ...
Foundation in 2004 and has led its support for higher education and the arts, which includes cultural exhibitions and performances, as well as postsecondary scholarships. It also targets programs in integrative medicine in the United States and Sweden. In 2005, the foundation began emphasizing scholarships for returning students who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees at colleges and universities. The Foundation also sponsors a national network of lifelong learning programs for seniors, called the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, on 124 campuses across the United States.


Awards and honors

* 2006 recipient of The Ralph Lowell Award for "outstanding contributions and achievements to public television" * Honorary member of the National Presswomen's Federation * Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration * Honorary doctorates from
Dominican University of California Dominican University of California is a private university in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California. Dominican is accredite ...
, Santa Clara University and
University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
.


Selected publications

* Bitterman, Mary GF. "Mass communication and social change." ''Media Asia'' 12.1 (1985): 38–43. * Bitterman, Mary GF. "Culture and Communication in the Asia-Pacific Region: Laying the Groundwork for Informational Interdependence and Interchange." ''Media Asia'' 18.1 (1991): 52–56. * Bitterman, Mary GF. "The Impact of Television on Society in the Asia Pacific Region'." ''The Ethics of Development: Language, Communication, and Power'' (1989). * Bitterman, Mary GF. "Conclusions from TIDE II." ''Information Technology and Global Interdependence. New York: Greenwood'' (1989): 307–8. * Bitterman, Mary GF. "Staying the course." ''Thirty-five years of Osher Philanthropy'' (2013).


References


External links


Bitterman Interview with Voice of America (2012)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitterman, Mary G. F. 1944 births Living people American women chief executives American women business executives 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Santa Clara University alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni