Ward Chamberlin Jr. was a public broadcasting pioneer who best known for helping to create PBS and National Public Radio.

The longtime executive got his start as a corporate lawyer before going into the media business when he was in his forties. He worked at WNET in New York City and served as the president of WETA, in Washington, D.C., for 15 years.

Chamberlin Jr. was also one of the founders of AFS Intercultural Programs, and he helped to launch the career of documentarian Ken Burns.

He died February 23, 2017, in Bedford, Massachusetts. He was 95.