Randolph A. Hearst, president of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and director of the Hearst Foundation, died Dec. 18 at age 85.
He had been director and chief executive of Hearst Publishing and Hearst Consolidated Publications, having begun in journalism on The Atlanta Georgian
in 1939. He worked at the San Francisco Call-Bulletin
and the San Francisco Examiner. He is credited with extending his family's media empire into television, with interests in A&E, Lifetime and Hearst-Argyll.
He is survived by his third wife, Veronica, five daughters, and four grandchildren.
Thomas George Yohe,
co-creator of ABC's Schoolhouse Rock,
died of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 20. He was 63.
At McCaffrey & McCall advertising agency in the early '70s, he and his colleague, George Newell came up with the concept for Schoolhouse Rock, animated three-minute educational ditties that were put among ABC's Saturday morning cartoons. Forty segments were created and ran from '73 to '85.
He is survived by his wife, Diane, two sons, two daughters, two stepsons and four grandchildren.
Barney McNulty,
pioneer of the use of cue cards on television, died on Dec. 18 of a heart attack. He was 77.
He got his start in 1949 when comedian Ed Wynn fell ill and asked him to write out his entire routine on cards. It was the beginning of a television institution, with his company, Ad-Libs, writing cue cards for the day-time drama, Days of Our Lives.
Milton Berle, Lucille Ball and Bob Hope were among those he serviced. Hope said, "He was my right hand, my ad libs." He is survived by his wife, Jill.
Bill LeMonds, GM for WHPN-TV Janesville, Wis., died at his home on Dec. 10. He was 60.
His career began in 1960 at WITI Milwaukee, where he rose to local sales manager before becoming GM of WCGV-TV Milwaukee. He went to on to several other television stations, including WDJT-TV Milwaukee.
He is survived by his wife, Diane, eight children and six grandchildren.
