Hugh Downs, whose congeniality and authoritative manner allowed him to move between the world of game shows and US network news, has died at the age of 99, the Arizona school named after him said on Thursday.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Hugh Downs. We heard from his family that Hugh passed away peacefully yesterday at his home in Scottsdale surrounded by his family at the age of 99,” the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University said in a posting on its social media pages.
Downs hosted the game show “Concentration” and the ABC News show “20/20” during a radio and television career of more than 60 years.
His broadcasting career began at age 18 when he auditioned for a radio announcer job on a whim in his hometown of Lima, Ohio.
After serving in the Army in World War Two, he joined the NBC radio network in Chicago and that led to television announcing jobs, including work on the “Kukla, Fran and Ollie” children’s show and a soap opera, Reuters reported.
Downs’ television work ranged from “Today,” NBC’s morning news show, to “Tonight,” working with Jack Paar. In 1985 the “Guinness Book of World Records” said he had been on commercial television a record 15,188 hours - a mark that stood until Regis Philbin surpassed it in 2004.
Downs’ interests included music composition, aviation, astronomy and space exploration. He served as chairman of the National Space Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes space exploration.
Among the several books he wrote were an autobiography, “Yours Truly, Hugh Downs”; “A Shoal of Stars,” his account of sailing a 65-foot ketch across the Pacific; and “Thirty Dirty Lies About Old Age.”
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