Ron Kershaw was an American television news executive responsible for several television news innovations. Considered somewhat a genius, Kershaw was the news director in several large cities across the United States including New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

.

News director

In 1974, Kershaw was hired by WBAL-TV

WBAL-TV

WBAL-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11. It is one of the flagship stations of Hearst Television, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and...

 in Baltimore to shore up its sagging news ratings. He introduced the Action News

Action News

Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...

 format, hired young, gifted new talent and moved the station from last to first in less than a year. Sue Simmons

Sue Simmons

Susan "Sue" Simmons has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.-Background:Simmons grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; her father was John Simmons, a renowned jazz bassist whose compatriots included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, John...

 and Spencer Christian

Spencer Christian

Spencer Christian is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's Good Morning America from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco. Christian is also the author of several children's...

 were two of Kershaw's proteges who went on to become big names in TV news.
Kershaw moved on to WNBC-TV in New York where he collaborated with Peter Sang in bringing the "control room" set into TV news. Kershaw was also mentor to Bucky Gunts

Bucky Gunts

Brent "Bucky" Gunts is a multiple Emmy-winning sports television director currently serving as Head of Production for NBC Olympics.He is best known as a director for NBC's Olympics coverage and has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special for...

, now an award-winning television news director who worked for Kershaw in Baltimore and Chicago.

Personal life and death

Prior to his move to Baltimore, Kershaw had been dating Jessica Savitch

Jessica Savitch

Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television broadcaster and news reporter, host of PBS' Frontline and New York weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News during the short-lived Roger Mudd/Tom Brokaw era....

, a news reporter who had worked for a rival television station in Texas. Kershaw helped develop her skills as a reporter during their stormy 10-year on-again and off-again relationship. The relationship was depicted in the made for television movie: Almost Golden, about the life of Jessica Savitch.

In 1987, Kershaw met Giselle Fernandez

Giselle Fernández

-External links:...

, whom he had hired as a reporter at WBBM-TV

WBBM-TV

WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...

. They were engaged to be married when Kershaw died of pancreatic and liver cancer in July 1989 at age 44.

Family

Kershaw is survived by his son, Beau Kershaw, an award winning photojournalist at Kershaw's old station, WBAL-TV in Baltimore. Young Kershaw's awards include seven Emmy Awards a Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia silver baton.