Bob Fitzsimmons, Personality on TV And the Radio

By GLENN COLLINS – NY TIMES
Published: June 04, 1993

Bob Fitzsimmons, a New York radio and television host known for his wry interviews with celebrity guests, died on Wednesday. He was 53 and lived in Tarrytown, N.Y.

He collapsed at a Manhattan restaurant and was taken to Metropolitan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said his son Bob.

Mr. Fitzsimmons was noted for his silky-voiced radio anecdotes during the “morning-drive” time period at WNEW-AM, where he was host with a partner, Al Rosenberg, from 1989 to 1991. He had his own show from 1991 until the station changed its format to all-business programming late last year, becoming WBBR.

He was also a host of the “Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon” from 1973 until 1989, and was one of the original hosts of the Channel 5 morning television show, “Good Day New York.”

Born Aug. 14, 1939 in Queens, Mr. Fitzsimmons grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and was a graduate of All-Hallows High School in the Bronx and Boston University.

In 1962 Mr. Fitzsimmons began his broadcasting career at WNEW as an assistant to Ted Brown and William B. Williams. He also appeared as the character Trevor Traffic with the radio team of Gene Klavan and Bob Finch. After becoming a radio host and disk jockey at WRKL in Rockland County, N.Y., he moved to WFMJ in Youngstown, Ohio, and then to WPEN in Philadelphia.

Mr. Fitzsimmons returned to New York in 1970 to become a talk-show host for radio station WHN, and then returned to WNEW-AM from 1973 to 1979 as host of the “afternoon drive” programming slot. Subsequently he was a talk-show host and announcer for WABC radio before returning to WNEW-AM.

In addition to his son Bob, of New York City, he is survived by his wife, Patricia; another son, Greg of Boston, and a daughter, Deirdre, of Skagway, Alaska.