23 Facts About Reese Schonfeld

1.

Maurice Wolfe "Reese" Schonfeld was an American television journalist and executive.

2.

Reese Schonfeld was of Jewish descent, the grandson of Yiddish-speaking immigrants.

3.

Reese Schonfeld's father, Philip, worked as a partner in a glass-and-mirror company; his mother, Sarah, was a housewife, secretary, and bookkeeper.

4.

Reese Schonfeld got the nickname "Reese" as a result of his younger sister's mispronunciation of Maurice.

5.

Reese Schonfeld went on study at Dartmouth College, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1953.

6.

Reese Schonfeld began his career with United Press Movietone News in 1956.

7.

Reese Schonfeld convinced Turner to increase to a 24-hour news channel.

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8.

Reese Schonfeld calculated it could be done with a staff of approximately 300 if they used an all-electronic newsroom and satellites for all transmissions.

9.

Reese Schonfeld was appointed first president and chief executive of the then-named Cable News Network.

10.

Reese Schonfeld hired Burt Reinhardt as vice president of the network; Sam Zelman as vice president of news and executive producer; Bill MacPhail as head of sports; Ted Kavanau as director of personnel; and Jim Kitchell, former general manager of news at NBC, as vice president of production and operations.

11.

In 1982, Reese Schonfeld was succeeded as CEO by Ted Turner after a dispute over Reese Schonfeld's firing of Sandi Freeman and was succeeded as president by CNN's executive vice president, Burt Reinhardt.

12.

Reese Schonfeld produced People Magazine on TV for CBS, and assisted in developing "News Channel 8" for Allbritton Communications Company.

13.

Reese Schonfeld subsequently worked with Time Warner in planning the International Business Channel.

14.

Reese Schonfeld designed and implemented the Medical News Network, an interactive TV news service, for Whittle Communications in 1993.

15.

Reese Schonfeld served on the board of Robert Halmi International before it was sold to Hallmark.

16.

In 1992, Reese Schonfeld began developing Food Network, which launched on November 23,1993.

17.

Reese Schonfeld sold his interest in Food Network to Scripps in 1999.

18.

Reese Schonfeld continued consulting for various media projects and occasionally contributed to The Huffington Post.

19.

Reese Schonfeld was married to Pat O'Gorman, sister of poet Ned O'Gorman, until his death.

20.

Reese Schonfeld was previously married to Karen Lamberti which ended in divorce, together they had 5 children; Alexander, Ellen, Orrin, William, and Ida.

21.

Reese Schonfeld was the author of Me and Ted Against the World, an account of the development and early history of CNN, and "The Global Battle for Cultural Domination", an essay in Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change.

22.

Reese Schonfeld died on July 28,2020, at his home in Manhattan.

23.

Reese Schonfeld was 88 and had suffered from complications of Alzheimer's disease.