James Leroy Hartz was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s.
15 Facts About Jim Hartz
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Jim Hartz became best known to a national audience for a two-year position as the co-host of the Today Show, along with Barbara Walters.
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Jim Hartz replaced the deceased Frank McGee, who hailed from Oklahoma, and at whose funeral Jim Hartz had delivered the eulogy.
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Jim Hartz was born on February 3,1940, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1958.
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Jim Hartz then attended the University of Tulsa as a premed student, but after three years he decided to pursue journalism instead.
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Jim Hartz first became a reporter for KOTV in Tulsa in 1962 and was promoted to news director in 1964, shortly before he joined NBC-owned WNBC-TV in New York.
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Jim Hartz covered the nation's bicentennial celebration, as well as the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
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Jim Hartz' run with Today turned out to be brief; Tom Brokaw would take over from him in 1976, when Walters left for ABC.
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Jim Hartz then went to WRC-TV in Washington, DC, where he was an anchor until 1979.
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Jim Hartz hosted another public television program, Innovation, during the early 1980s.
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Jim Hartz traveled to and from Japan over 30 times while filming this series.
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Jim Hartz, who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, became chairman of the Will Rogers Memorial Commission in 1993 and is a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.
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Jim Hartz has flown in a large number of military aircraft, including the SR-71, and was regarded as an aerospace expert.
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Jim Hartz covered every manned flight after that from 1966 to 1976.
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Jim Hartz died on April 17,2022, at the age of 82, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.