James Fellows, a leader in public broadcasting, died in his sleep at a nursing home on January 6, 2012 in Millville, NJ. He was 77.
Fellows represented national television stations for 40 years. In addition to being the last president of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, Fellows helped implement educational TV and radio programs into the national public broadcasting system. He also founded the NAEB’s service Current, a public broadcasting trade newspaper.
In 1979, Fellows received the Ralph Lowell Medal from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to public broadcasting.
An active member of several boards, Fellows was the president of the Central Education Network from 1983 to 2003 and founded the American Center for Children and Media in Chicago. Additionally, he chaired the Maryland Public Television Foundation and served on boards for Educational Development Center, J2 Communications and Prix Jeunesse.
Fellows graduated from Syracuse University, where he later taught as a professor of television. He was hit by a car in front of his Maryland home in 2003, had a stroke in 2004 and battled Parkinson’s disease for the remainder of his life.
Fellows is survived by his nephew, his nephew’s wife, his nephew’s son, his niece, his cousin, his aunt and uncle, his caregiver and his friends.
Funeral services were held in Rensselaer, NY, and memorial services were held in Washington, D.C. His family requests that donations in Fellows’ name be made to the American Center for Children and Media or to donors’ local public radio or TV stations.
