Obituary
Howard Gutin, CPB chair and Texas public broadcaster
Army Lt. Col. Howard Gutin, Ret., a former CPB Board chair and Texas public broadcaster, died April 27 in Indialantic, Fla. He was 80.
Gutin became interested in broadcasting during his 32-year military career, serving as director of the Brooke Army Medical Center TV facility in San Antonio. After his 1979 retirement from the Army he spent seven years producing KLRU’s popular Austin City Limits. He went on to serve as president of the Southwest Texas Public Broadcasting Council, licensee of San Antonio’s KLRN as well as Austin’s KLRU.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the CPB Board. Gutin was elected vice chair in 1986 and chair the next year. Upon his departure in 1989, the board honored him for his “selfless dedication, hard work, and effective contributions to the Corporation and the entire public broadcasting community.”
Gutin was involved in the noisy 1985 controversy that led to CPB’s withdrawal from sponsoring a program-selling expedition to Moscow and the protest resignation of CPB President Ed Pfister. Chair Sonia Landau opposed the trip, which was to occur while the United States and the Soviet Union were at odds over arms negotiations. Gutin canceled plans to go on the trip and cast the deciding vote to kill the trade venture. He wasn’t certain he wanted to go anyway, he told a reporter. “The only thing I’ve got to sell is Willie Nelson,” he said, “and I’m not sure the Soviets want Willie Nelson.”
Gutin was born on Aug. 17, 1930, in Paterson, N.J., to Jacob and Esther Gutin. He joined the New Jersey National Guard and then the Army, serving in Europe, Korea, Vietnam and the United States. During his service he also earned a degree from the University of Nebraska.
While in Vietnam he was exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange. That led to a year’s hospitalization and removal of his stomach, his family told the San Antonio Express-News.
Gutin is survived by his wife, Carmen; son, Richard; daughter-in-law, Barbara; daughter, Lisa Hunt; son-in-law, Scott Hunt; stepdaughter, Dr. Inez M Dalton; and stepson, Alexander D. Tinsley, and his wife, Colleen.
A service with military honors took place April 29. The family suggests donations to Temple Beth Shalom, 5995 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32940.
Copyright 2011 American University