MacLeish, Rod 1926-2006

(Roderick MacLeish)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 15, 1926, in Bryn Mawr, PA; died July 1, 2006, in Washington, DC. Journalist, broadcaster, and author. MacLeish, the nephew of poet Archibald MacLeish, was a radio and television political commentator who also wrote nonfiction books and novels. After attending the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago, he worked for United Press International in New York City for a year. During the late 1940s, he was with the American Broadcasting Company in New York, before becoming news director for WLAW-Radio in Boston from 1950 to 1955. He shifted to WBZ-Radio in Boston as a news commentator for two years and then moved to the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company as bureau chief in Washington, DC, in 1957. After helping organize the bureau in the national capital, he transferred to the London bureau in 1959 and worked throughout Europe as chief of Foreign Service until 1966. He returned to Washington in 1966, where he was chief commentator for Westinghouse, and then senior commentator from 1968 to 1971. For the next five years, MacLeish was a commentator for the Columbia Broadcasting Service. He switched to National Public Radio in 1976, remaining there until 1990. Finally, from 1990 to 1997, he was television producer and commentator for Monitor Radio-TV in Washington, DC, before retiring. As an author, MacLeish wrote fiction for both adults and children, as well as nonfiction, such as his acclaimed The Sun Stood Still (1967) about the Arab-Israeli War. Among his other titles are A Time of Fear (1957), Carnaby Rex (1976), The First Book of Eppe (1985), Prince Ombra (1987), and Crossing at Ivalo (1989). He also wrote and narrated the three-part PBS documentary The Hermitage: A Russian Odyssey, which aired from 1994 to 1995.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, July 5, 2006, section 2, p. 11.

Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2006, p. B9.

Washington Post, July 4, 2006, p. B7.