Ron Weaver, a former operations director and producer for Children’s Television Workshop who played an instrumental role in creating some of the production house’s most iconic programs, died May 15 in Los Angeles. He was 75.
Weaver was part of the original production team on CTW (now called Sesame Workshop) that created the signature PBS programs Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact and others. Weaver also played a large role in the international co-production of Spanish-language versions of Sesame Street in Latin America.
Weaver left CTW to become a producer at the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, which debuted in 1987. He stayed with the program for 27 years, leaving in April of this year. He rose to become v.p. of BBL, Inc., the wing of the Bold production company focusing on international distributions. Weaver won three Daytime Emmys for Bold. He also published his first novel, Soul Mate, in 2010.
He was born in Mishawaka, Ind., in 1937, and worked as a ventriloquist on local radio and TV while in high school, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He graduated Michigan State University with a degree in theater arts and served for two years in the U.S. Air Force Reserve before moving to New York to pursue acting.
Weaver is survived by his partner of 29 years, Franko E. Weaver; daughter Jen Finkle-Weaver; son Kevin Weaver; and three grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Three Rivers Lions Club in Three Rivers, Mich., or to AIDS Project Los Angeles.