Fade To Black: TV’s 2013 Honor Roll

Paul Crouch, 79, televangelist who with his wife, Jan, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973 and grew it into an international Christian television empire. He died Nov. 30.

Les Brown, 84, one of the first journalists to cover television comprehensively from its early days, reporting on it for the New York Times, founding and editing Channels of Communications, a groundbreaking magazine about the industry, and producing an authoritative TV encyclopedia, died on Nov. 4.

Ray Dolby, 80, founded of his namesake company in 1965 and grew it into an industry leader of audio technology. His work in noise reduction and surround sound led to the creation of a number of technologies that are still used in music, movies and entertainment today. He holds more than 50 U.S. patents. Dolby died on Sept. 12.

David Frost, 74, the journalist, was most famous for his 1977 series of interviews with Richard Nixon that lasted 28 hours and 45 minutes. Frost was popular in Britain and was gaining a foothold on U.S. television, but it wasn’t until he secured the interviews with Nixon, that he became internationally known. Frost died on Aug. 31.

Robert Wold, 87, a one-time ad executive, founded the Robert Wold Co. that is credited with the first use of a domestic communications satellite for a live television program. He died on Aug. 10.

Cory Monteith, 31, one of the stars of the Fox hit Glee, died from a combination of heroin and alcohol on July 13.

Gary David Goldberg, 68, was the genial two-time Emmy Award winner who mined his rich personal life to create such amusing and affecting entertainment as the Michael J. Fox sitcom Family Ties. He died June 23.

James Gandolfini, 51, the actor perhaps best known as mob boss Tony Soprano in the groundbreaking HBO series The Sopranos that aired from 1999 to 2007, died on June 19.

Frank Lautenberg, 89, was first elected to the Senate from New Jersey in 1982 and was re-elected to his fifth term in 2008. As an outspoken member of the Commerce Committee, he often defended the FCC’s ban on crossmedia ownership and was a longtime supporter of public broadcasting. He died on June 3.

Jean Stapleton, 90, was an actress little known to the public before she was cast as Edith Bunker in the groundbreaking Norman Lear comedy All in the Family that ran on CBS from 1971 to 1983. She died on May 31.

Al Neuharth, 89, spent more than 15 years as chariman-CEO of Gannett Co. His most visible undertaking was the launch of USA Today in 1982. Under his leadership Gannett’s annual revenue grew from $200 million to more than $3 billion. He died on April 19.

Pat Summerall, 82, an NFL player-turned-broadcaster was part of network television broadcasts for 16 Super Bowls. His last championship game was for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, also his last game with his 21-year partner John Madden. He died on April 16.

Preston Davis, 63, was the first African-American to hold a president post at ABC, serving as head of broadcast operations and engineering for ABC Television Network Group since 1993. He died on April 15.

Annette Funicello, 70, became famous as a perky, cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s, then teamed up with Frankie Avalon on a string of ’60s fun-in-the-sun movies. She died on April 8.

Roger Ebert, 70, a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times when he teamed up with his counterpart at the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel, to launch the popular film criticism TV show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies. He continued to review movies on TV after Siskel’s death in 1999. He died on April 4.

Bonnie Franklin, 69, was the TV and stage actress who starred in One Day at a Time, TV’s first sitcom built around a divorced-woman protagonist. It was created by Norman Lear and ran on CBS from 1975 to 1984. She died on March 1.

Dale Robertson, 89, the film actor moved into television, starring in series such as Tales of Wells Fargo (1957-62), Iron Horse (1966) and Death Valley Days (1968-70). Robertson continued to work in TV in the 1970s, and in the 1980s he landed roles in the popular primetime soap operas Dallas and Dynasty. He died on Feb. 26.

Jim Hedlund, 69, worked in the Ford White House and represented the interests of cable TV in Washington before joining the Association of Independent Television Stations (later the Association of Local Television Stations) in 1983 and eventually became its president. He died on Feb. 23.

This is Part IV of our four-part 2013 Year In Review special report. Read the other parts here.