Louis Rukeyser, RIP

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A truly class act.

From 1970 until 2002, at 8:30 p.m. on Friday evenings on public television, the dapper journalist began his half hour-long show Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser to the clacking sound of an old stock ticker machine.
Rukeyser reviewed the week’s news with witticisms, wordplay and factoids and then moderated a panel discussion. The better the market outlook, the more he liked it, his brother said. The format never changed.
TV Guide called Wall $treet Week one of the best programs of on American television and wrote, “Louis Rukeyser’s opening remarks on the week’s business events are crafted gems of wry commentary; his airy and adroit handling of his big-shot guests is a pleasure to watch.”
Produced by Maryland Public Television, the show drew the largest audience in financial journalism at the time and turned Rukeyser into a celebrity.
Investment strategists like Goldman Sachs’ Abby Joseph Cohen and former Merrill Lynch Chairman David Komansky regularly traveled from New York to Maryland by plane, train and limousine to appear on his show.
Over the years, the silver-haired commentator won many awards, including the G.M. Loeb Award, the most prestigious in financial journalism. People magazine crowned him “the dismal science’s only sex symbol” and Modern Maturity magazine named him as one of the world’s “50 Sexiest People Over 50.”

He will be missed.

Posted by on May 4th, 2006 at 8:45 pm


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