San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
Sig Mickelson had an insatiable curiosity and a razor-sharp memory, qualities that made the first president of CBS News a great newsman.
They were also attributes that endeared him to his family, friends and colleagues such as former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
"Sig was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of television news," Cronkite said. "Much of what we accomplished can be traced to his leadership in the founding days of this incredible medium."
Services have not yet been scheduled for Mr. Mickelson, 86, who died Friday of complications related to pneumonia at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest.
His wife, Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, said services probably will be in three weeks. Cronkite is expected to attend.
Mrs. Mickelson met her husband 14 years ago, months after his first wife, Maybell Brown, died.
Both were working at San Diego State University, where she was director of special projects and he was a professor.
"He was absolutely the most charming man you ever met," she said.
The day before her husband died, Mrs. Mickelson left the hospital for a few minutes to get something to eat. On her way out, she asked him if he needed anything. "Just you, babe," he told her.
From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Mickelson was the Lionel Van Deerlin Professor of Communications. Van Deerlin, who now writes a column for The San Diego Union-Tribune, was city editor of the old San Diego Journal before serving in the House of Representatives for 18 years. "I couldn't hold a candle to Sig Mickelson when it comes to prestige or acceptance in the communications business," Van Deerlin said. "He'd be a 10. I'd be about a 3 or 4."
Born in Clinton, Minn., Mr. Mickelson stayed true to his small-town roots in many ways. He was a kind, thoughtful and humble person, friends and family said. Despite his tall stature and broad shoulders, he was quiet and gentle.
"You would never know he was the first president of CBS News. He would never be the one to tell you that," said Glen Broom, a neighbor of Mickelson's and a colleague at SDSU.
He landed a job at CBS News in 1943, and quickly rose through the ranks. In addition to Cronkite, he hired news greats Edward R. Murrow and Charles Kuralt, and is credited with coining the term "anchorman." During his career he also served as president of Radio Free Europe and vice president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Broom, a former chairman of the SDSU journalism department and now a professor of communication, said Mr. Mickelson brought stature and prestige to communication studies at SDSU. He taught there from 1978 until 1991.
"He was a journalist's journalist," Broom said.
Mr. Mickelson was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University in 1994. He returned to San Diego three years later, and continued to write books, the last of which he finished in August, his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson was also instrumental in bringing together different segments of the communications industry in San Diego years before news media began to converge.
"He was always ahead of his time," his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson developed a love for reading at a very young age.
"He really grew up in an atmosphere of education where the greatest things were expected of him," said his daughter, Ann de Brauw. Mr. Mickelson's mother had become a schoolteacher at the age of 16.
Mr. Mickelson received a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1934 and later got a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
He loved to travel and relished good meals. He taught his children to be daring in what they ate, and encouraged them to eat octopus and frog's legs long before such foods were in vogue.
His stepson, Alberto Mier y Teran, remembers traveling with Mr. Mickelson in Portugal. As they drove through a small town, Mr. Mickelson suggested they get something to eat.
Mr. Mickelson proceeded to give his stepson precise directions to a restaurant he had visited 30 years earlier.
"He had a memory that was unbelievable," Mier y Teran said.
Besides his wife, daughter and stepson, Mickelson is survived by a son, Alan Mickelson; a stepdaughter, Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard; and seven grandchildren.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Sig Mickelson spent perhaps the finest years of his television news career refereeing between two giants in the industry.
As president of CBS News through most of the 1950s, Mr. Mickelson spent a good portion of his time negotiating between renowned broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and CBS Chairman William Paley.
Mr. Mickelson might never have been certain which of the two formidable personalities caused him more worry.
"Murrow's journalism was pretty heavily larded with carefully enunciated opinions defending the impoverished and the like," Mr. Mickelson once said. "Paley was a purist. He was a real stickler for following the rules right down to the letter."
Mr. Mickelson died last night at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest from complications related to pneumonia. He was 86.
"He was a man of integrity," said Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, who married Mickelson in 1986, a half-dozen or so years after he retired to San Diego.
"Whenever he gave you his word, you could be sure it was well thought," she said. "He didn't just say things without meaning."
Mr. Mickelson was born in Clinton, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in 1934. He later received a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Mickelson rose quickly through the ranks of CBS News after landing a job at the fledgling network in 1943. He is credited with hiring not only Murrow but CBS stalwarts Walter Cronkite and Charles Kuralt.
It was only a few months after the death of his first wife, Maybelle Brown, that he ran into a woman who enchanted him one afternoon at San Diego State University.
"We were walking through the door of a building one day, and he mentioned that he'd read an article about my work," said Mier y Teran Mickelson, who was a director of special projects for the university.
Mr. Mickelson taught at SDSU from the late 1970s to 1990. In 1994, he was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University.
Besides his wife, Mr. Mickelson is survived by a daughter, Ann de Brauw; a son, Alan Mickelson; and stepchildren Alberto Mier y Teran and Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard.
Services are pending.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Siegfried Mickelson, (“Sig”), American broadcasting executive (born May 24, 1913, Clinton, Minnesota - died March 24, 2000, San Diego, California), as the first president of CBS’s television news operation, pioneered many of the techniques of television news presentation, such as the use of anchormen, and was responsible for launching the career of Walter Cronkite.
Mickelson joined CBS in 1943, organizing a radio news department in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was put in charge of CBS’s news division in 1951, and a year later he selected Cronkite to anchor the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential conventions. Mickelson was also responsible for hiring reporter Fred Friendly and teaming him with legendary correspondent Edward R. Murrow on the successful CBS documentary series See It Now. In 1954, with Mickelson’s support, Friendly and Murrow broadcast an exposé on Sen. Joseph McCarthy that helped to turn the tide of public opinion against the controversial senator. Mickelson remained at CBS until 1961. He served as director of Time-Life Broadcasting from 1961 to 1970 and later held teaching posts at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge; and San Diego State University. From 1975 to 1978 Mickelson headed Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, combining the two into a single public corporation in 1976. His book From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite: Four Decades of Politics and Television appeared in 1989.
Sig Mickelson had an insatiable curiosity and a razor-sharp memory, qualities that made the first president of CBS News a great newsman.
They were also attributes that endeared him to his family, friends and colleagues such as former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
"Sig was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of television news," Cronkite said. "Much of what we accomplished can be traced to his leadership in the founding days of this incredible medium."
Services have not yet been scheduled for Mr. Mickelson, 86, who died Friday of complications related to pneumonia at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest.
His wife, Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, said services probably will be in three weeks. Cronkite is expected to attend.
Mrs. Mickelson met her husband 14 years ago, months after his first wife, Maybell Brown, died.
Both were working at San Diego State University, where she was director of special projects and he was a professor.
"He was absolutely the most charming man you ever met," she said.
The day before her husband died, Mrs. Mickelson left the hospital for a few minutes to get something to eat. On her way out, she asked him if he needed anything. "Just you, babe," he told her.
From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Mickelson was the Lionel Van Deerlin Professor of Communications. Van Deerlin, who now writes a column for The San Diego Union-Tribune, was city editor of the old San Diego Journal before serving in the House of Representatives for 18 years. "I couldn't hold a candle to Sig Mickelson when it comes to prestige or acceptance in the communications business," Van Deerlin said. "He'd be a 10. I'd be about a 3 or 4."
Born in Clinton, Minn., Mr. Mickelson stayed true to his small-town roots in many ways. He was a kind, thoughtful and humble person, friends and family said. Despite his tall stature and broad shoulders, he was quiet and gentle.
"You would never know he was the first president of CBS News. He would never be the one to tell you that," said Glen Broom, a neighbor of Mickelson's and a colleague at SDSU.
He landed a job at CBS News in 1943, and quickly rose through the ranks. In addition to Cronkite, he hired news greats Edward R. Murrow and Charles Kuralt, and is credited with coining the term "anchorman." During his career he also served as president of Radio Free Europe and vice president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Broom, a former chairman of the SDSU journalism department and now a professor of communication, said Mr. Mickelson brought stature and prestige to communication studies at SDSU. He taught there from 1978 until 1991.
"He was a journalist's journalist," Broom said.
Mr. Mickelson was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University in 1994. He returned to San Diego three years later, and continued to write books, the last of which he finished in August, his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson was also instrumental in bringing together different segments of the communications industry in San Diego years before news media began to converge.
"He was always ahead of his time," his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson developed a love for reading at a very young age.
"He really grew up in an atmosphere of education where the greatest things were expected of him," said his daughter, Ann de Brauw. Mr. Mickelson's mother had become a schoolteacher at the age of 16.
Mr. Mickelson received a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1934 and later got a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
He loved to travel and relished good meals. He taught his children to be daring in what they ate, and encouraged them to eat octopus and frog's legs long before such foods were in vogue.
His stepson, Alberto Mier y Teran, remembers traveling with Mr. Mickelson in Portugal. As they drove through a small town, Mr. Mickelson suggested they get something to eat.
Mr. Mickelson proceeded to give his stepson precise directions to a restaurant he had visited 30 years earlier.
"He had a memory that was unbelievable," Mier y Teran said.
Besides his wife, daughter and stepson, Mickelson is survived by a son, Alan Mickelson; a stepdaughter, Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard; and seven grandchildren.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Sig Mickelson spent perhaps the finest years of his television news career refereeing between two giants in the industry.
As president of CBS News through most of the 1950s, Mr. Mickelson spent a good portion of his time negotiating between renowned broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and CBS Chairman William Paley.
Mr. Mickelson might never have been certain which of the two formidable personalities caused him more worry.
"Murrow's journalism was pretty heavily larded with carefully enunciated opinions defending the impoverished and the like," Mr. Mickelson once said. "Paley was a purist. He was a real stickler for following the rules right down to the letter."
Mr. Mickelson died last night at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest from complications related to pneumonia. He was 86.
"He was a man of integrity," said Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, who married Mickelson in 1986, a half-dozen or so years after he retired to San Diego.
"Whenever he gave you his word, you could be sure it was well thought," she said. "He didn't just say things without meaning."
Mr. Mickelson was born in Clinton, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in 1934. He later received a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Mickelson rose quickly through the ranks of CBS News after landing a job at the fledgling network in 1943. He is credited with hiring not only Murrow but CBS stalwarts Walter Cronkite and Charles Kuralt.
It was only a few months after the death of his first wife, Maybelle Brown, that he ran into a woman who enchanted him one afternoon at San Diego State University.
"We were walking through the door of a building one day, and he mentioned that he'd read an article about my work," said Mier y Teran Mickelson, who was a director of special projects for the university.
Mr. Mickelson taught at SDSU from the late 1970s to 1990. In 1994, he was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University.
Besides his wife, Mr. Mickelson is survived by a daughter, Ann de Brauw; a son, Alan Mickelson; and stepchildren Alberto Mier y Teran and Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard.
Services are pending.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Siegfried Mickelson, (“Sig”), American broadcasting executive (born May 24, 1913, Clinton, Minnesota - died March 24, 2000, San Diego, California), as the first president of CBS’s television news operation, pioneered many of the techniques of television news presentation, such as the use of anchormen, and was responsible for launching the career of Walter Cronkite.
Mickelson joined CBS in 1943, organizing a radio news department in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was put in charge of CBS’s news division in 1951, and a year later he selected Cronkite to anchor the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential conventions. Mickelson was also responsible for hiring reporter Fred Friendly and teaming him with legendary correspondent Edward R. Murrow on the successful CBS documentary series See It Now. In 1954, with Mickelson’s support, Friendly and Murrow broadcast an exposé on Sen. Joseph McCarthy that helped to turn the tide of public opinion against the controversial senator. Mickelson remained at CBS until 1961. He served as director of Time-Life Broadcasting from 1961 to 1970 and later held teaching posts at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge; and San Diego State University. From 1975 to 1978 Mickelson headed Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, combining the two into a single public corporation in 1976. His book From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite: Four Decades of Politics and Television appeared in 1989.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
Sig Mickelson had an insatiable curiosity and a razor-sharp memory, qualities that made the first president of CBS News a great newsman.
They were also attributes that endeared him to his family, friends and colleagues such as former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
"Sig was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of television news," Cronkite said. "Much of what we accomplished can be traced to his leadership in the founding days of this incredible medium."
Services have not yet been scheduled for Mr. Mickelson, 86, who died Friday of complications related to pneumonia at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest.
His wife, Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, said services probably will be in three weeks. Cronkite is expected to attend.
Mrs. Mickelson met her husband 14 years ago, months after his first wife, Maybell Brown, died.
Both were working at San Diego State University, where she was director of special projects and he was a professor.
"He was absolutely the most charming man you ever met," she said.
The day before her husband died, Mrs. Mickelson left the hospital for a few minutes to get something to eat. On her way out, she asked him if he needed anything. "Just you, babe," he told her.
From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Mickelson was the Lionel Van Deerlin Professor of Communications. Van Deerlin, who now writes a column for The San Diego Union-Tribune, was city editor of the old San Diego Journal before serving in the House of Representatives for 18 years. "I couldn't hold a candle to Sig Mickelson when it comes to prestige or acceptance in the communications business," Van Deerlin said. "He'd be a 10. I'd be about a 3 or 4."
Born in Clinton, Minn., Mr. Mickelson stayed true to his small-town roots in many ways. He was a kind, thoughtful and humble person, friends and family said. Despite his tall stature and broad shoulders, he was quiet and gentle.
"You would never know he was the first president of CBS News. He would never be the one to tell you that," said Glen Broom, a neighbor of Mickelson's and a colleague at SDSU.
He landed a job at CBS News in 1943, and quickly rose through the ranks. In addition to Cronkite, he hired news greats Edward R. Murrow and Charles Kuralt, and is credited with coining the term "anchorman." During his career he also served as president of Radio Free Europe and vice president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Broom, a former chairman of the SDSU journalism department and now a professor of communication, said Mr. Mickelson brought stature and prestige to communication studies at SDSU. He taught there from 1978 until 1991.
"He was a journalist's journalist," Broom said.
Mr. Mickelson was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University in 1994. He returned to San Diego three years later, and continued to write books, the last of which he finished in August, his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson was also instrumental in bringing together different segments of the communications industry in San Diego years before news media began to converge.
"He was always ahead of his time," his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson developed a love for reading at a very young age.
"He really grew up in an atmosphere of education where the greatest things were expected of him," said his daughter, Ann de Brauw. Mr. Mickelson's mother had become a schoolteacher at the age of 16.
Mr. Mickelson received a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1934 and later got a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
He loved to travel and relished good meals. He taught his children to be daring in what they ate, and encouraged them to eat octopus and frog's legs long before such foods were in vogue.
His stepson, Alberto Mier y Teran, remembers traveling with Mr. Mickelson in Portugal. As they drove through a small town, Mr. Mickelson suggested they get something to eat.
Mr. Mickelson proceeded to give his stepson precise directions to a restaurant he had visited 30 years earlier.
"He had a memory that was unbelievable," Mier y Teran said.
Besides his wife, daughter and stepson, Mickelson is survived by a son, Alan Mickelson; a stepdaughter, Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard; and seven grandchildren.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Sig Mickelson spent perhaps the finest years of his television news career refereeing between two giants in the industry.
As president of CBS News through most of the 1950s, Mr. Mickelson spent a good portion of his time negotiating between renowned broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and CBS Chairman William Paley.
Mr. Mickelson might never have been certain which of the two formidable personalities caused him more worry.
"Murrow's journalism was pretty heavily larded with carefully enunciated opinions defending the impoverished and the like," Mr. Mickelson once said. "Paley was a purist. He was a real stickler for following the rules right down to the letter."
Mr. Mickelson died last night at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest from complications related to pneumonia. He was 86.
"He was a man of integrity," said Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, who married Mickelson in 1986, a half-dozen or so years after he retired to San Diego.
"Whenever he gave you his word, you could be sure it was well thought," she said. "He didn't just say things without meaning."
Mr. Mickelson was born in Clinton, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in 1934. He later received a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Mickelson rose quickly through the ranks of CBS News after landing a job at the fledgling network in 1943. He is credited with hiring not only Murrow but CBS stalwarts Walter Cronkite and Charles Kuralt.
It was only a few months after the death of his first wife, Maybelle Brown, that he ran into a woman who enchanted him one afternoon at San Diego State University.
"We were walking through the door of a building one day, and he mentioned that he'd read an article about my work," said Mier y Teran Mickelson, who was a director of special projects for the university.
Mr. Mickelson taught at SDSU from the late 1970s to 1990. In 1994, he was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University.
Besides his wife, Mr. Mickelson is survived by a daughter, Ann de Brauw; a son, Alan Mickelson; and stepchildren Alberto Mier y Teran and Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard.
Services are pending.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Siegfried Mickelson, (“Sig”), American broadcasting executive (born May 24, 1913, Clinton, Minnesota - died March 24, 2000, San Diego, California), as the first president of CBS’s television news operation, pioneered many of the techniques of television news presentation, such as the use of anchormen, and was responsible for launching the career of Walter Cronkite.
Mickelson joined CBS in 1943, organizing a radio news department in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was put in charge of CBS’s news division in 1951, and a year later he selected Cronkite to anchor the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential conventions. Mickelson was also responsible for hiring reporter Fred Friendly and teaming him with legendary correspondent Edward R. Murrow on the successful CBS documentary series See It Now. In 1954, with Mickelson’s support, Friendly and Murrow broadcast an exposé on Sen. Joseph McCarthy that helped to turn the tide of public opinion against the controversial senator. Mickelson remained at CBS until 1961. He served as director of Time-Life Broadcasting from 1961 to 1970 and later held teaching posts at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge; and San Diego State University. From 1975 to 1978 Mickelson headed Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, combining the two into a single public corporation in 1976. His book From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite: Four Decades of Politics and Television appeared in 1989.
Sig Mickelson had an insatiable curiosity and a razor-sharp memory, qualities that made the first president of CBS News a great newsman.
They were also attributes that endeared him to his family, friends and colleagues such as former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
"Sig was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of television news," Cronkite said. "Much of what we accomplished can be traced to his leadership in the founding days of this incredible medium."
Services have not yet been scheduled for Mr. Mickelson, 86, who died Friday of complications related to pneumonia at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest.
His wife, Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, said services probably will be in three weeks. Cronkite is expected to attend.
Mrs. Mickelson met her husband 14 years ago, months after his first wife, Maybell Brown, died.
Both were working at San Diego State University, where she was director of special projects and he was a professor.
"He was absolutely the most charming man you ever met," she said.
The day before her husband died, Mrs. Mickelson left the hospital for a few minutes to get something to eat. On her way out, she asked him if he needed anything. "Just you, babe," he told her.
From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Mickelson was the Lionel Van Deerlin Professor of Communications. Van Deerlin, who now writes a column for The San Diego Union-Tribune, was city editor of the old San Diego Journal before serving in the House of Representatives for 18 years. "I couldn't hold a candle to Sig Mickelson when it comes to prestige or acceptance in the communications business," Van Deerlin said. "He'd be a 10. I'd be about a 3 or 4."
Born in Clinton, Minn., Mr. Mickelson stayed true to his small-town roots in many ways. He was a kind, thoughtful and humble person, friends and family said. Despite his tall stature and broad shoulders, he was quiet and gentle.
"You would never know he was the first president of CBS News. He would never be the one to tell you that," said Glen Broom, a neighbor of Mickelson's and a colleague at SDSU.
He landed a job at CBS News in 1943, and quickly rose through the ranks. In addition to Cronkite, he hired news greats Edward R. Murrow and Charles Kuralt, and is credited with coining the term "anchorman." During his career he also served as president of Radio Free Europe and vice president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Broom, a former chairman of the SDSU journalism department and now a professor of communication, said Mr. Mickelson brought stature and prestige to communication studies at SDSU. He taught there from 1978 until 1991.
"He was a journalist's journalist," Broom said.
Mr. Mickelson was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University in 1994. He returned to San Diego three years later, and continued to write books, the last of which he finished in August, his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson was also instrumental in bringing together different segments of the communications industry in San Diego years before news media began to converge.
"He was always ahead of his time," his wife said.
Mr. Mickelson developed a love for reading at a very young age.
"He really grew up in an atmosphere of education where the greatest things were expected of him," said his daughter, Ann de Brauw. Mr. Mickelson's mother had become a schoolteacher at the age of 16.
Mr. Mickelson received a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1934 and later got a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
He loved to travel and relished good meals. He taught his children to be daring in what they ate, and encouraged them to eat octopus and frog's legs long before such foods were in vogue.
His stepson, Alberto Mier y Teran, remembers traveling with Mr. Mickelson in Portugal. As they drove through a small town, Mr. Mickelson suggested they get something to eat.
Mr. Mickelson proceeded to give his stepson precise directions to a restaurant he had visited 30 years earlier.
"He had a memory that was unbelievable," Mier y Teran said.
Besides his wife, daughter and stepson, Mickelson is survived by a son, Alan Mickelson; a stepdaughter, Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard; and seven grandchildren.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Sunday, March 26, 2000
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Sig Mickelson spent perhaps the finest years of his television news career refereeing between two giants in the industry.
As president of CBS News through most of the 1950s, Mr. Mickelson spent a good portion of his time negotiating between renowned broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and CBS Chairman William Paley.
Mr. Mickelson might never have been certain which of the two formidable personalities caused him more worry.
"Murrow's journalism was pretty heavily larded with carefully enunciated opinions defending the impoverished and the like," Mr. Mickelson once said. "Paley was a purist. He was a real stickler for following the rules right down to the letter."
Mr. Mickelson died last night at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest from complications related to pneumonia. He was 86.
"He was a man of integrity," said Elena Mier y Teran Mickelson, who married Mickelson in 1986, a half-dozen or so years after he retired to San Diego.
"Whenever he gave you his word, you could be sure it was well thought," she said. "He didn't just say things without meaning."
Mr. Mickelson was born in Clinton, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in 1934. He later received a master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Mickelson rose quickly through the ranks of CBS News after landing a job at the fledgling network in 1943. He is credited with hiring not only Murrow but CBS stalwarts Walter Cronkite and Charles Kuralt.
It was only a few months after the death of his first wife, Maybelle Brown, that he ran into a woman who enchanted him one afternoon at San Diego State University.
"We were walking through the door of a building one day, and he mentioned that he'd read an article about my work," said Mier y Teran Mickelson, who was a director of special projects for the university.
Mr. Mickelson taught at SDSU from the late 1970s to 1990. In 1994, he was named a distinguished professor of communications at Louisiana State University.
Besides his wife, Mr. Mickelson is survived by a daughter, Ann de Brauw; a son, Alan Mickelson; and stepchildren Alberto Mier y Teran and Ina Mier y Teran-Sheppard.
Services are pending.
San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA) - Saturday, March 25, 2000
Siegfried Mickelson, (“Sig”), American broadcasting executive (born May 24, 1913, Clinton, Minnesota - died March 24, 2000, San Diego, California), as the first president of CBS’s television news operation, pioneered many of the techniques of television news presentation, such as the use of anchormen, and was responsible for launching the career of Walter Cronkite.
Mickelson joined CBS in 1943, organizing a radio news department in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was put in charge of CBS’s news division in 1951, and a year later he selected Cronkite to anchor the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential conventions. Mickelson was also responsible for hiring reporter Fred Friendly and teaming him with legendary correspondent Edward R. Murrow on the successful CBS documentary series See It Now. In 1954, with Mickelson’s support, Friendly and Murrow broadcast an exposé on Sen. Joseph McCarthy that helped to turn the tide of public opinion against the controversial senator. Mickelson remained at CBS until 1961. He served as director of Time-Life Broadcasting from 1961 to 1970 and later held teaching posts at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge; and San Diego State University. From 1975 to 1978 Mickelson headed Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, combining the two into a single public corporation in 1976. His book From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite: Four Decades of Politics and Television appeared in 1989.
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