Richard Wald

Richard Charles Wald (March 19, 1930 – May 13, 2022) was an American television executive who served as the president of NBC News from 1973 to 1977 and senior vice president of ABC News from 1978 to 1999.

Early life and education Wald was born Manhattan in 1930; his father was an Austrian immigrant. He went to Stuyvesant High School and then Columbia College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1952, and rented an apartment with three of his classmates: future ABC News president Roone Arledge, PBS and NBC News president Larry Grossman, and The New York Times executive editor Max Frankel. He then studied at Clare College, Cambridge on a fellowship, and received a master's degree in English. His colleagues at the Tribune included major figures of the New Journalism movement, such as Jim Bellows, Jimmy Breslin, Gail Sheehy, and Tom Wolfe. He also served as the Sunday editor of the New York World Journal Tribune and assistant managing editor of The Washington Post before joining NBC in 1967.

In January 1973, Wald became president of NBC News. During his time there, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky followed him at work for two days while writing the film Network, and he is considered the inspiration for William Holden's character in the film.

Wald left the network in 1977 due to friction with the management over unsatisfactory ratings. Wald was promoted to senior vice president for editorial quality, nicknamed the "ethics czar" of the network, tasked with reviewing that prospective stories met journalistic standards.

Personal life Wald was married to his wife, the former Edith Leslie, from 1954 until her death in 2021, and they had three children.

Wald had a stroke on May 8, 2022, and died from complications five days later, on May 13, at a hospital in New Rochelle, New York, aged 92.