Rukeyser dies at 73

Louis Rukeyser, 73, died Tuesday after a long struggle with a rare bone marrow cancer. The son of one of the first financial columnists in U.S. newspapers, he became the first financial reporting star in TV. “He was the franchise — proof that the star system worked even for PBS,” said media professor Douglas Gomery in the Baltimore Sun. Rukeyser outlived the new version of Wall Street Week devised by Maryland Public Television to replace his original WSW, which he hosted for 32 years. Rukeyser refused to take a reduced role in the new program planned by MPT. He left in a fury and went on to host a show like the old WSW on the CNBC cable network for 18 months, until he began cancer treatments. David Stewart tells how WSW got started in a Rukeyser profile.