Obituary

Lee Frischknecht, 76

Lee Frischknecht, president of NPR from 1973 to 1977, died Dec. 29, 2004, in Logan, Utah, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 76.

Frischknecht was NPR’s second president. He joined the network in 1970, during its first months of operation, as director of network affairs and ascended to v.p. before becoming its president. In 1980 he joined KAET-TV in Tempe, Ariz. There he founded Arizona School Services through Educational Technology (ASSET) and helped establish KBAQ-FM before retiring in 1993.

Frisch-knecht started his broadcasting career at KID-AM/FM in Idaho Falls, Idaho. While earning a master’s degree at Michigan State University, he joined WMSB-TV in East Lansing, Mich., in 1954, starting as video cameraman and working up to g.m. by 1960.

In 1963, he joined National Educational Television in New York as director of communications. At a friend’s request, he returned to Utah State University, where he had earned his bachelor’s degree, and served as director of university relations and special educational services.

Frischknecht was born in 1938 in Brigham City, Utah. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948 during the postwar U.S. occupation of Japan.

He loved singing, literature, astronomy, fishing, golf and classical music.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Sara Jean; his daughters, Amy Blodgett of Tempe, Diane Etherington and Ellen DePola of Salt Lake City and Jill Taylor of Charlotte, N.C.; and 13 grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Reed L. Frischknecht, and was preceded in death by his brother, P. Ray Frischknecht.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to the Lee C. Frischknecht Scholarship Fund, which will support radio broadcasting students at Utah State University, in care of Sara Jean Frischknecht, 371 Choke Cherry Lane, Providence, UT 84332.

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