Louis Rukeyser, the exquisitely tailored and pun-loving television host who helped millions of Americans believe that they could get rich in the stock market, or at least begin to understand it, died yesterday at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 73.
He died of multiple myeloma, said his brother Bud Rukeyser.
When "Wall Street Week" was broadcast for the first time on Nov. 20, 1970, probably nobody, not even the always self-assured Mr. Rukeyser, dreamed that the show would run for 32 years while attracting the biggest audience on public television and making its host a celebrity in the improbable field of light-hearted, free-market-oriented financial commentary. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was then languishing, and the population of American mutual funds numbered a scant 323.
And though the Dow continued to languish (not until 1982 did it push above 1,000, a mark it had first set in 1966), "Wall Street Week" prospered. "I invented the job of economic commentary on television," Mr. Rukeyser said in 1980. He was already well along in inventing the medium of investment broadcasting.
I started watching W$W in college and was a faithful viewer throughout my grad school days. When I think about the show, I can still hear the theme music in my head ("TWX in Twelve Bars"). Sure there are lots of other financial pundits with their own shows now. But Rukeyser did it first, and in a lot of ways did it best. It wasn't a fast paced spectacle with a ticker running on the bottom of the screen. It was thoughtful, deliberate, and perfect for a Friday night.
Shortly after being fired by PBS, Rukeyser appeared on "Larry King Live". When asked by a caller how he would like to be remembered, Rukeyser answered,
I would like to be remembered as a guy who always leveled with his audience, who tried to represent the customer and nobody else, and who gave it to people straight, no matter who it offended.
NPR had a nice tribute this morning. My favorite part is noted over at Angrybear.