Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan

 Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974)

He is principally remembered as the creator and host of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, later popularly—and, eventually, officially—renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in US broadcast history. "It was, by almost any measure, the last great TV show," proclaimed television critic David Hinckley. "It's one of our fondest, dearest pop culture memories." Sullivan was a broadcasting pioneer at many levels during television's infancy. As TV critic David Bianculli wrote, "Before MTV, Sullivan presented rock acts. Before Bravo, he presented jazz and classical music and theater. Before the Comedy Channel, even before there was the Tonight Show, Sullivan discovered, anointed and popularized young comedians. He also defied pressure to exclude African American entertainers, and to avoid interacting with them when they did appear. According to biographer Jerry Bowles, "Sullivan once had a Ford executive thrown out of the theatre when he suggested that Sullivan stop booking so many black acts. Sullivan was initially reluctant to book the Beatles because the band didn't have a single released in the US at the time. But at the behest of a friend, legendary impresario Sid Bernstein, Sullivan signed the group. Their initial Sullivan Show appearance on February 9, 1964, was the most-watched program in TV history to that point, and remains one of the most-watched programs of all time. The Beatles appeared three more times in person, and submitted filmed performances later. The Dave Clark Five, who claimed a "cleaner" image than the Beatles, made 13 appearances on the show, more than any other UK group. By 1971, the show's ratings had plummeted. In an effort to refresh its lineup, CBS canceled the program along with some of its other longtime shows. Sullivan was angered, and refused to do a final show, although he remained with the network in various other capacities and hosted a 25th anniversary special in June 1973.

In early September 1974, X-rays revealed that Sullivan had advanced esophageal cancer. Doctors gave him very little time, and the family chose to keep the diagnosis from him. Sullivan, still believing his ailment to be yet another complication from a long-standing battle with gastric ulcers, died five weeks later on October 13, 1974, at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital. His funeral was attended by 3,000 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York on a cold, rainy day. Sullivan is interred in a crypt at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.