Hugh Downs Passed Away!

Hugh Downs passed away.

Legendary television anchor and reporter Hugh Downs passed away at the age of 99.

Hugh Malcolm Downs, a legend of television perhaps best known in my time as the host of ABC News program 20/20.

He also was best known for his days on NBC as the host of Today.

He served as Jack Paar's sidekick on The Tonight Show and many other emities.

He passed away in at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 99.

CNN reports that Hugh -- who retired in 1999 -- was essentially there for the very start of commercial television, serving as the announcer for the children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie and comedy legendy Sid Caesar's Caesar's Hour in the 1950s.

Note that Carl Reiner who recently passed away was on Caesar's Hour.

In 1957, when Paar succeeded Steve Allen as the host of The Tonight Show, Downs became the announcer.

The next year, Downs became the original host of the game show Concentration.

When Paar left the Tonight Show in 1962, Downs -- who had frequently substituted for Paar -- thought he might be asked to replace him. Instead the network hired Johnny Carson and Downs segued to NBC's Today, where he spent nearly a decade on the morning program.

Downs famously championed the career of Barbara Walters. He gave the young writer-producer the opportunity to become an iconic feature of her own right.

The two would team up for the show in the mid-1970s called Not for Women Only.

But what they're best known for is the duo on 20/20.

Downs was not involved in the development of 20/20. He said that the show in earlier times was "hideously disastrous" and was pummeled by the critics. Downs believed if they could revamp the program to be a competitor to 60 Minutes, they would succeed.

To this day, 20/20 remains to be a popular fixture on Friday nights.

Downs would host the program with Walters until his retirement.

Now Amy Robach and David Muir are the hosts of 20/20.

Downs is a Emmy award winning journalist.

Hugh was born in Akron, Ohio in 1921 and attended the Lima Shawnee High School in Lima. He was a graduate of Bluffton College and Wayne State University.

He is a well-known American broadcaster of television and radio. He was a game show host, announcer, author, TV producer and music composer. He was married to Ruth Shaheen from 1944 until her death in 2017. He leaves behind two children.

Cause of death was heart failure.