William Augustus Leonard (April 9, 1916 – October 23, 1994) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and television executive who served as President of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

from 1979 to 1982.

Early life and education

Leonard was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, the son of Jewish parents Ruth (Leonard) and James Garfield Moses, a lawyer. Leonard grew up in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000. Orange was original ...

and

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

, attending

Avon Old Farms , motto_translation = Aspiring and Persevering , address = 500 Old Farms Road , city = Avon , state = Connecticut , zipcode = 06001 , country = United St ...

private preparatory school. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1937, where he worked for the student newspaper, ''

The Dartmouth ''The Dartmouth'' is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College and America's oldest college newspaper. Originally named the ''Dartmouth Gazette'', the first issue was published on August 27, 1799, under the motto "Here range the world— ...

''.

Career

After graduating from university, Leonard worked as a reporter for the

Bridgeport Post The ''Connecticut Post'' is a daily newspaper located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It serves Fairfield County and the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Municipalities in the Post's circulation area include Ansonia, Bridgeport, Darien, Derby, Easton ...

and produced radio programs in his spare time. Leonard joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1941, as an officer "in charge of guided missile countermeasures," in the Mediterranean theatre. Leonard reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander by the time he was discharged from the Navy. He served in the

until 1945, when he took a position at CBS as the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

anchorman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet ...

for ''This Is New York'' and its subsequent

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

show ''Eye on New York''. He was chosen as a floor reporter for the 1952, 1956 and 1960 political conventions. After Leonard was promoted to correspondent,

Fred W. Friendly Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program ''See It Now''. He originated the concept ...

chose him for the ''

CBS Reports ''CBS Reports'' is the umbrella title used for documentaries by CBS News which aired starting in 1959 through the 1990s. The series sometimes aired as a wheel series rotating with ''60 Minutes'' (or other similar CBS News series), as a series of it ...

'' team. He led CBS's new news election unit from 1961 to 1965 and helped develop exit polling. He then held a series of management positions at CBS News, rising to President in 1979 until his 1982 retirement. As president, he chose ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

'' correspondent

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...

to succeed

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

as anchor of the ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...

'' in 1981. He also created '' Sunday Morning''. Leonard and Chairman William S. Paley were the only two employees allowed to stay on past CBS's mandatory retirement age.Leonard, Bill (1987). ''In the Storm of the Eye: A Lifetime at CBS Penguin Group.''

This is New York (1945-1960)

New York City station WCBS Radio (WABC at the time) first broadcast ''This is New York'' on December 31, 1945. The program was broadcast six days a week broadcast at 6 a.m. until it moved to the 9-9:45 a.m. time slot in May 1946. Staff writer-reporters for ''This is New York'' included Al Morgan, Fred Freed, and Martin Weldon.

Personal life

He was the stepfather of journalist Chris Wallace. Leonard died from a stroke in

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River. While the city limits are entirely in northern Prince George's County, outlying developments extend into Anne Arunde ...

.Kennedy, Randy (October 24, 1994)
William Leonard, 78, Former Head of CBS News.
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

References

External links

Bill Leonard remembers Don Hollenbeck (June 23, 1954)
1916 births 1994 deaths People from Laurel, Maryland Jewish American journalists 20th-century American writers Presidents of CBS News 20th-century American journalists American male journalists United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American Jews {{US-journalist-1910s-stub