Many people thought Brandon Tartikoff a genius who, as president and later chairman of NBC Entertainment, led the network to ratings glory.
I met Tartikoff first in 1989 when he flew in to sign a TV deal with Jonathon Brandmeier; not, it turned out, an astute move. A Long Island native, Tartikoff loved Chicago, having cut his career teeth as a promotions manager at WLS-Ch. 7 in the 1970s while being treated at the same time for Hodgkin’s disease at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “The cure,” he said, “felt worse than the illness.”
The last time I saw him was in 1992. We were walking along Michigan Avenue. He had just resigned as chairman of Paramount Pictures and was moving to New Orleans, to be closer to his 9-year-old daughter, recuperating from car crash injuries.
A man in a long coat and a beard stopped us and asked, “Spare any change?” Tartikoff pulled out a $5 bill, gave it to the man, and said, “Go get yourself something good.”
Tartikoff died at 48 in August of complications from Hodgkin’s disease.
So short a life. But one packed with much living.
