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A sweet so-long to Louis Rukeyser, 73 He made sense of Wall Street for Americans May 3, 2006
He was Louis Rukeyser, and in many ways he was the father of financial journalism on TV, as the founder and longtime host of PBS's "Wall $treet Week," the first national show on personal finance and by far the longest-running. Over three decades he made investing an activity that became all that more inviting to millions of Americans, during a period when owning stock had gone from a privilege of the few to one of the masses. Rukeyser died yesterday at his home in Greenwich, Conn., after a lingering fight with cancer of the bone marrow, known as multiple myeloma, that had forced him into retirement several years ago. He was 73. He is survived by his wife, Alexandra, and three daughters. The elegantly attired Rukeyser founded "Wall $treet Week" in 1970 and served as its host for 32 years until his unceremonious ouster four years ago by Maryland Public Television, its producer. MPT, in a bid to draw a younger audience, replaced the white-haired chatter with a panel of Fortune editors. Through the years, under Rukeyser,"Wall $treet Week" made sense of the stock market and economics generally for millions of Americans through his jovial and often irreverent monologues and the show's relaxed chat-on-the-sofa format. His guests over the years included all the big names of Wall Street, as well as the nation's top economists. Rukeyser's mission, often stated, was to remove the baffle from economics and investing. Rukeyser was born in New York City in 1933. His father, Merryle S. Rukeyser, was also a financial journalist, working for newspapers and writing a syndicated column. Louis Rukeyser began his reporting career at the Baltimore Sun after graduating from Princeton University in 1954. He later worked for ABC News before founding "Wall $treet Week." He also wrote books, columns and newsletters. But in 2002, Maryland Public Television decided it needed to bring in a younger host to reel in a younger audience. With Rukeyser then 69 years old, MPT turned the top position over to Fortune magazine's editorial director Geoffrey Colvin, who was 48. What happened next probably surprised MPT management. After turning down a lesser role on the show, Rukeyser refused to go quietly into the night. Instead Rukeyser, as was characteristic for the man, said just what he thought about the situation. He used the opening minutes of his next show to complain about how he had been "ambushed" by MPT and to lambaste the company’s plans for the new show. He was abruptly fired. Even then Rukeyser had more to say. In a statement released after the incident he blasted those who labeled his on-air rant as unprofessional. "What really has them [at MPT] in a frenzy, quite obviously, is the near-unanimous public reaction against their dumb, deceptive and almost unbelievable graceless behavior in this manner," he said. Rukeyser found himself another show to host and within a month was on air again in "Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street" on CNBC. However, only about six months later Rukeyser was forced to leave the show due to chronic back pain. Some months later cancer was diagnosed.
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