Robert Russell Siegenthaler

After enjoying family, friends and an exciting career, Bob Siegenthaler departed this world on September 2, 2023. He was born in Pittsburgh on July 26, 1933, the only child of Harold and Margaret McKeever Siegenthaler. During World War II, the family lived in Cleveland where his father worked in the war effort in the steel industry+. After the War, the family moved to Cincinnati where Bob completed high school and College. Cincy marked the beginning of his formal journalism career as a reporter for the Cincinnati Times-Star newspaper. In 1955, military service interrupted his career with a 16 month tour in Korea as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In 1957, he completed military service as a Captain in the Ready Reserve. In 1958, he began graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh and resumed his journalism career at WIIC TV.
By 1963, Bob had begun his 32 year career at ABC. He started with his first love, writing, on the 11 pm evening news. He spent the next 20 years producing news specials, the evening news, various political conventions, national elections, space shots, revolutions, assassinations, and more than two dozen documentaries. Perhaps most outstanding was his chairmanship in 1972 of the building of the broadcast center in China, and heading the television coverage of the Nixon Visit to China. He produced the nightly series "American Held Hostage" during the Iran hostage crisis. The series became "Nightline." He was assigned network pool producer for the Nixon Impeachment Hearings of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974. In 1976, Bob and the ABC crew were the subject of an award-winning BBC documentary on the Kansas City Republican Convention produced by John Miller. The documentary covered both the preparations for network coverage and the second-to-second decisions in the control room itself during live broadcast of the Convention. After 28 years in news, Bob was appointed President of Broadcast Operations and Engineering for the ABC Network Group in 1989. However, he always considered himself a writer, reporter, and newsman. He retired from his beloved career in 1993 and became a resident of Maine.
In New York, at the beginning of his career at ABC, he met and married his wife, Anita. They raised three children in Harrington Park, NJ which provided lovely small-town life plus easy access to the city. The family became summer seasonals in Maine after Bob produced "BJ and Eddie, Outward Bound" in 1973, an award-winning special about the Outward Bound program on Hurricane Island. Many happy times were enjoyed in both Harrington Park and Maine. Bob leaves in this world his three children Janet Siegenthaler, John Siegenthaler (Zita), Tom Siegenthaler (Rie), and five grandchildren.
The family will treasure remembrances, stories, and anecdotes which may be shared on their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.
Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.2b:[]
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