OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / Jack Reilly

Jack Reilly, 84, a television producer best known for his work with “Good Morning America” and “Entertainment Tonight,” died May 27 in New York City. The cause of death was a heart attack, according to his son Chris.

Born Feb. 27, 1925, in Lowell, Mass., Reilly attended Emerson College in Boston, where he studied acting, but soon moved to New York to pursue his dream of being in the theater.

He toured with the national production of “Mr. Roberts” but gave up acting in 1953 after marrying and deciding to start a family.

Reilly found work at a television station in Omaha as an actor, director and handyman.

Several years later, he joined Westinghouse Broadcasting, and he eventually worked as program director and station manager at affiliates in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. For a time, he was president of Group W Productions in Philadelphia.

In his late 40s, he turned to television production work, running the Mike Douglas and David Frost shows. In the late 1970s, he was hired as senior producer of “Good Morning America,” and he later worked as executive producer of “Entertainment Tonight” before returning to “Good Morning America” in the mid-1980s.

In the 1990s, Reilly was vice president and managing editor of business news for CNBC and created the shows “Squawk Box” and “Power Lunch.”