Reese Schonfeld

Maurice Wolfe "Reese" Schonfeld (November 5, 1931July 28, 2020) was an American television journalist and executive. Trained as a lawyer, he co-founded CNN with Ted Turner in 1980, and went on to establish Food Network in 1993. Early life and education Schonfeld was born in Newark, New Jersey, on November 5, 1931. He was of Jewish descent, the grandson of Yiddish-speaking immigrants. His father, Philip, worked as a partner in a glass-and-mirror company; his mother, Sarah (Wolfe), was a housewife, secretary, and bookkeeper. He got the nickname "Reese" as a result of his younger sister's mispronunciation of Maurice. He graduated from Weequahic High School. He went on study at Dartmouth College, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1953. He subsequently earned an M.A. and J.D. degrees from Columbia University. However, he never went into practice. Career Schonfeld began his career with United Press Movietone News in 1956. Later he became vice president of United Press International Television News; when its U.S. business was purchased by Television News Inc. (TVN) in 1974, he joined that company for a year. In 1975, after TVN folded, he founded the Independent Television News Association, a service that provided independent television stations with pooled news coverage via satellite. Birth of CNN Ted Turner approached Schonfeld to find out about satellites. Schonfeld recalls Turner asking him how much a satellite would cost, and upon hearing the sum Turner exclaimed "only a million dollars a year?", after which Turner acquired his first satellite. Approximately a year later he was approached again by Turner, who wanted to found a 15-hour all-news channel. Schonfeld convinced Turner to increase to a 24-hour news channel. Schonfeld calculated it could be done with a staff of approximately 300 if they used an all-electronic newsroom and satellites for all transmissions. It would require an initial investment of $15–20 million and several million dollars per month to operate. In 1979, Turner sold his North Carolina station, WRET, to fund the transaction and established its headquarters in lower-cost, non-union Atlanta. Schonfeld was appointed first president and chief executive of the then-named Cable News Network (CNN).