Richard Edgar (Dick) Crew died last month of lymphoma.
Crew was best known as the national executive producer for the nationally syndicated version of Evening Magazine. He was 72.
After a career in the Army that included covering the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968, Crew started his TV career at KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pa. as producer of a morning talk show. He then went to work at WCBS in New York as producer of “The John Bartholomew Tucker Show.”
He worked on a few shows that served as precursors to Evening Magazine, starting at then-CBS affiliate, WCAU in Philadelphia, Crew is credited with refining the format of Eye on Philadelphia. At PBS affiliate WHYY, he created a local entertainment magazine show called “Audience” and then moved to Boston as Program Manager of WBZ.
Crew moved to San Francisco to become National EP of Evening which aired in over 100 cities across the US. He left Evening after five years, to start his own production company which produced shows for USA Network and what was then known as the SciFi Channel.
At the age of 56, he left TV to get a PhD in Mass Communications and Media at the Union Institute and University, which led to a second career in education.
Maybe his most notable achievement was having the sympathy card from the former employees at his production company read, “to a great boss who taught us that you don’t have to be a shady jerk to work in Hollywood.”
He is survived by his wife Carole, children Christopher and Kelsey and grandson Malcolm. He is also survived by his sister, Sandra Jean Lenneman of Dewitt, Michigan, and his brothers, Bruce Crew of Carlsbad, N.M., Wayne Crew of Austin, TX, and Chuck Crew of Minneapolis, MN, and many Crew-related cousins across the country.