Richard Heffner

{{Short description|American communications professor, broadcaster}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Heffner

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|08|05}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|12|17|1925|08|05}}

| death_place = New York City

| education = Columbia University

| occupation = Communications professor
Broadcaster

| years_active =

| notable_works = The Open Mind

}}

Richard Douglas Heffner (August 5, 1925 – December 17, 2013) was the creator and host of The Open Mind, a public affairs television show first broadcast in 1956. He was a University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at Rutgers University and also taught an honors seminar at New York University.

Career

A protégé of Edward R. Murrow, Heffner helped establish what is now WNET (Channel 13) in New York City and was its first general manager, from 1961–63. From 1974–94 Heffner was chairman of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).[http://www.news.wisc.edu/12081.html University of Wisconsin-Madison News reference to Heffner] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220220812/http://www.news.wisc.edu/12081.html |date=2006-02-20 }}, January 31, 2006.

Heffner earned his BA (1946) and MA (1947) degrees in history from Columbia University. He taught two courses at Rutgers University. "Mass Communications and the American Image" is taught through the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, while "Communication and Human Values" is an honors undergraduate seminar taught through the School of Arts and Sciences. He also taught the same honors undergraduate course, "Communication and Human Values", at New York University. {{citation needed|date=December 2013}} For the 50th anniversary of The Open Mind in Jan. 2006, fellow broadcaster Bill Moyers guest-hosted the show and interviewed Heffner.{{Citation |title=The Open Mind: The Open Mind...at 50 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbHuvsPqwK0 |language=en |access-date=2023-02-06}}

=Books=

Documentary History of the United States, a verbatim anthology of important public documents in American history
Conversations With Elie Wiesel (2001) with Elie Wiesel{{Cite web |title=Conversations with Elie Wiesel by Elie Wiesel, Richard D. Heffner: 9780805211412 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/190336/conversations-with-elie-wiesel-by-elie-wiesel-and-richard-d-heffner/ |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}

Death

Heffner died at his home in New York City on December 17, 2013 due to a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 88.{{Cite news |date=2013-12-19 |title=Richard Heffner, Historian, Teacher, Pioneer of Public Television, Is Dead at 88 |url=http://news.rutgers.edu/richard-heffner-historian-teacher-pioneer-public-television-dead-88/20131218#.UrJ47HlML6J |access-date=2025-05-06 |work=Rutgers University}}

References

External sources

[http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/directory/heffner/index.html Rutgers University]: Richard D. Heffner
[http://www.panarchy.org/heffner/gildedage.html Richard Heffner, The Gilded Age] (1952)

Category:1925 births

Category:2013 deaths

Category:American television personalities

Category:American humanities academics

Category:Rutgers University faculty

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni

Category:Place of birth missing

Category:Place of death missing

Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni