Dr. Frank Field, longtime meteorologist for WNBC and other New York stations, died Saturday in Florida at age 100, the station said.
Field began working at WNBC in 1958 and became well-known when he was needled by Tonight Show host Johnny Carson as “NBC’s crack meteorologist.” Field became a regular guest on the show.
In addition to providing weather forecasts, Field reported on science. He covered a kidney transplant live in 1983 and introduced the station’s audience to the life-saving Heimlich maneuver before it was embraced by the medical establishment.
After 25 years at WNBC, he moved to WCBS New York and ended his TV career at WWOR Secaucus, New Jersey, in 2004.
Field’s son and daughters followed in his professional footsteps, with son Storm and daughter Allison also on the air at local stations.
Field earned a degree in geology at Brooklyn College, a bachelor’s degree in optometry at Columbia University and a doctorate on the faculty of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
He studied meteorology at Brown University and MIT and served as a meteorologist for the Army Air Force in Europe during World War II.
Field’s wife of 75 years died several months ago. He is survived by his three children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
