WE REMEMBER:

(Left to right) William McCarter, Production Manager of WHYY-TV; Beatrice Chernock, of Leidy Elementary School; Edna Green, of Girls High School; Joseph Pollock, of John Bartram Junior High School; Bess Barg, of the Board of Education's radio-TV staff; Edward Goldman, of South Philadelphia High School; Kathryn Bovaird, of the Board's radio-TV staff; and Zachary Bernstein, of Fels Junior High School
WHYY-TV Studios
September 12, 1957

William J. McCarter, formerly of WFIL, worked during the fifties as a TV director for Bandstand. He also worked for the Philadelphia Orchestra in televised productions. Bill also held several positions at WHYY-TV (which was Channel 35 at that time). He is seen at the left of the above photo. When he passed away, he was president of "Window to the World Communications" and oversaw the operation of WTTW, Channel 11 in Chicago, the most watched PBS station in the country.

Joe Battipaglia, 55, died on April 14th. His firm (Washington Crossing Advisors) was based in Yardley. He is widely known for his appearances on CNBC and the Fox Business Networks. When on the air, he broadcast from various studios in Philadelphia

Member Neil Harrison, Jr. passed away in February 2011. Neil was Executive Vice President with The Weightman Group for almost 30 years. He retired in 1995. We spoke with his wife Joyce, who told us, “Neil was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December and had it removed in February. Unfortunately, while hospitalized, he developed several infections, pneumonia and suffered a massive heart attack.”

Don Lancer
at the KYW Newsradio Anchor Desk
1979

Donald Kelsh, Jr., better known to the Delaware Valley as Don Lancer, passed away on April 25, 2011 after a battle with cancer. The reknown KYW newsradio anchor was was 68. With 37 years at KYW 1060, he said thousands of times, “Good morning, I’m Don Lancer. On Independence Mall it’s…” According to the CBS Philly release, “he never sounded bored or tired” of that saying.

Gaetano Moliere, who was a member of the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 30 years, passed away on April 22, 2011, at age 87. He was most proud of playing under famous conductors including, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Ricardo Muti, George Solti, Wolfgang Sawallisch and others. In off seasons, before joining the Philadelphia Orchestra, he played for the ballet in New York and with the WQXR Radio orchestra, among others.

Jack Buerkle, former professor and chair of the sociology department at Temple University has passed away. One of Jack's passions was jazz and he hosted a jazz program on WRTI-FM for three decades. He was a veteran of WWII and died from complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 87.