R.I.P.: Radio, TV Producer Beryl Pfizer Was 87

Beryl Pfizer

Writer and radio and television producer Beryl Pfizer died February 12, 2016, of natural causes in Manhattan. She was 87.

Pfizergraduated from Hood College in 1949, with a BA in music and moved to Manhattan after college to begin a long and varied career in the radio and television industries.

She worked for the Arthur Godfrey Show on CBS-TV, wrote for NBC TV's The Home Show and worked with Dave Garroway on NBC TV's The Today Show, where she was a "Today Girl" feature panelist (1960-61). She received three Emmy Award nominations (1980-82), and won an Emmy in 1980, for producing "Ask NBC News, with John Chancellor."

She wrote for NBC TV's broadcasts of The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (1987-89), for NBC's Monitor Radio, and for Edwin Newman; imagine the challenge of writing for the author of "Strictly Speaking!" She worked for NBC News at many Democratic National Conventions, including 1968 in Chicago.

She produced "The Women's Program" series for the NBC Radio Network, which received a commendation from American Women in Radio and Television in 1979. Beryl also wrote and produced NBC-TV's "The All- New Pink Panther Show" (1971-74), which featured those famous cartoons and live-action segments with The Ritts Puppets and comedian Lenny Schultz reading letters and jokes from viewers.

Pfizer was also an avid athlete and enjoyed playing tennis. She took up running and unexpectedly won prizes in the upper age groups of Jersey Shore 5 K's for many years, which tickled her to no end. She was proud to have completed a New York City marathon, and she loved the Midnight Run on New Year's Eve in Central Park, running her last race just last month.