Gerald Slater

Gerald Slater (1934 – April 24, 2020) was an American public television executive, Emmy-nominated producer, and one of the four founding employees of PBS.^[1]

Overview

Slater was born in The Bronx. As an executive at PBS and WETA in the 1970s and 1980s, he played a key role in the development of public television, expanding its coverage of public affairs and the arts.^[2] He was also instrumental in airing the 1974 Senate Watergate hearings in primetime on PBS.^[1] His daughter is actress Helen Slater.

Slater's personal and professional papers reside at the University of Maryland Archives.^[3]

Slater died from COVID-19 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 2020, at age 86, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. His condition was exacerbated by multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.