2003

Who: Fred Rogers
Major Accomplishment: He was the chairman of a White House forum on child development and the mass media in 1968, and from then on was frequently consulted as an expert or witness on such issues. He produced several specials for live television and videotape. Many of his regular show’s themes and songs were worked into audiotapes.
Legacy: Mr. Rogers’s Web site provided a link to help parents discuss his death with their children. ”Children have always known Mister Rogers as their ‘television friend,’ and that relationship doesn’t change with his death,” the site says.

Who: David Brinkley
Major Accomplishment: Brinkley liked to say that he had ”done the news longer than anyone on earth.” He summed up his career as the subtitle of his 1995 memoir, ”David Brinkley”: ”11 Presidents, 4 Wars, 22 Political Conventions, 1 Moon Landing, 3 Assassinations, 2,000 Weeks of News and Other Stuff on Television and 18 Years of Growing Up in North Carolina.”
Legacy: His colleague Roger Mudd once observed that Brinkley ”brought a level of political sophistication and literary craftsmanship and a lively sense of humor that television had never known before and that hasn’t been equaled since.”

Who: Katharine Hepburn
Major Accomplishment: Walter Kerr of the New York Times wrote about her performance in “The West Side Waltz” in terms that reflected the general critical opinion: “One mysterious thing she has learned to do is breathe unchallengeable life into lifeless lines.”
Legacy: In typical Katharine Hepburn style, she faced the camera and, at the age of 85, tacitly acknowledged how close she had to be to the end. “I have no fear of death,” she said. “Must be wonderful, like a long sleep. But let’s face it: it’s how you live that really counts.”

Who: Bob Hope
Major Accomplishment: More than any other single activity in which Hope engaged, his World War II United Service Organizations, or U.S.O., tours endeared him to the nation. He played his first camp show on May 6, 1941, and in 1966, he estimated that he had traveled more than two million miles and entertained more than 11 million servicemen in the succeeding years.
Legacy: What was billed as his final television special was broadcast by NBC in November 1996, ending a run of 284 NBC specials that began in 1950. The show included clips of the comedian entertaining Presidents from Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.

>>>NEXT: 2004 was a tough year for alpha-males…

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.