Longtime PR Exec George Faber Passes

George Faber, a newsman-turned-publicity executive whose 50 years at CBS and Viacom marked a company record, died March 11, 2011, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89.

According to news reports, Faber died in his sleep.

Born in 1921, Faber began his career at age 18 in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he found work as an engineer and announcer at radio station WMFD. He later moved to Chicago, where he worked for NBC, ABC and finally CBS.

While covering Midwest news for the CBS station WBBM-TV, in Chicago, Faber and his team produced a report on the lack of fire alarms in schools after a 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School took the lives of almost 100 people. His coverage won an Emmy and inspired a national movement to protect schoolchildren.

After moving to Los Angeles, where he became a director of client relations at CBS, his responsibilities included public relations and international syndication. His international efforts included a 1973 trip to Australia, where he brought the cast of The Carol Burnett Show for the opening of the Sydney Opera House. He also entertained foreign buyers during their visits to Los Angeles and worked to get stories about CBS series in foreign publications. During his lengthy tenure at the network he worked on more than 80 series, including The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Roseanne, The Cosby Show and Sabrina the Teen Age Witch.

In May 1996, Viacom/CBS celebrated his half-century with the company.

Survivors include two daughters and a son. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 21, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

On February 21, 2001, George Faber had the distinction of being interviewed by the Television Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television. During the interview, conducted by Reba Merrill as part of a joint venture with the Publicists’ Guild of America, Faber began by talking about his early years breaking into the business in local television in Chicago, where he notably worked at the NBC and later CBS affiliates as a news writer.

He described in detail one of his most dramatic news stories, a fire at Our Lady of Angeles School, a tragedy that took the lives of over a hundred, for which a 10-minute remote was featured on the national Evening News with Douglas Edwards, on CBS. Faber also talked about some of the interviews he did, including an exclusive with President Truman.

Faber then spoke in great detail about the next phase of his career in publicity, as the director of client relations at CBS in Los Angeles. Faber discussed his work in this position that entailed selling American shows to foreign markets, with an emphasis on the lucrative Japanese market. Faber described the techniques (as well as the contribution of the series stars) in selling such shows as Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hogan’s Heroes.

Faber also discussed his transition to Viacom, and its creation due to the government rulings.

The entire interview is available online here.