Gary Herman; TV Work Included ABC News Shows

Gary Herman, producer and director of news and special events programming whose work ranged from “Good Morning America” and “Entertainment Tonight” to “Willard Scott’s Home and Garden Almanac,” has died. He was 65.

Herman died March 5 at Cedars-Sinai Hospital of heart and kidney disease, said his brother-in-law, Ken Wheat.

The veteran news executive earned an Emmy for his work on television news coverage of President Richard M. Nixon’s ground-breaking trip to China in 1972.

Born in Paterson, N.J., Herman graduated from Vanderbilt University and studied law at Rutgers before joining ABC News in 1961.

Moving quickly into directing and producing news-oriented programs, he worked on “The Reasoner Report” with news anchor Harry Reasoner, “Good Morning America” and specials on the U.S. Bicentennial and British Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee.

He was supervising producer of the well-received 1980 PBS series “Civilization and the Jews.”

In 1981 he joined “Entertainment Tonight” as news director and stayed for five years.

In 1994 he produced “Willard Scott’s Home and Garden Almanac” about the network weatherman.

Herman is survived by his sister, Shelley Herman, who asks that memorial contributions be made to the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California.