George Weiss, who made community television for Fanwood possible for more than 20 years, died Saturday in Virginia. Services are Monday, Aug. 20th in Watchung. More info: http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx…
Here’s the story we did about George when he retired from his role with Fanwood TV in 2015:
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In the annals of lives well-lived, George Weiss will surely have his own Hall of Fame. Sitting in his comfortable chair in his apartment at The Chelsea of Fanwood assisted living residence, Mr. Weiss still gets agitated talking about ads that violate the rules of graphic design.
“All caps is no good,” he said with conviction. “Upper and lower case is easier to read.”
And so it continues for Mr. Weiss who made a living for decades designing, writing and printing ads for newspapers, circulars and magazines, then teaching others how to do it in seminars that took him to 48 of the 50 states. From the days of using hot lead to create type to modern day digital graphic design and video, he has lived through almost the entire evolution of communications media.
“I’ve written two books,” he said while thumbing through one.
At 87, Weiss remembers with remarkable clarity every turn of his life, from his youth playing the tuba at Plainfield High School to his 20-plus years as Fanwood’s chief videographer, editor and television producer, the job he last retired from in 2014. A self-taught graphic designer, Weiss learned his craft in the 1950’s at a Newark printing company that did grocery store circulars. He later got a job at the West Essex Tribune in Livingston where he was Advertising Director for 21 years. He then left for a bigger job in New York City with Metro Associated Services, a company that provided all kinds of services for newspapers including hot lead typesetting, advertising and graphic design.
Along the way, he had several brushes with the celebrities of the time.
“When I played the tuba as a very young man, I did four recording sessions with Paul Whiteman through the musicians’ union,” he recalls. “At the time, it was just a union job. Later, I tried to find the records, but I never did.”
One night in the 1960’s, while out to dinner in Hackettstown with his late wife Betty, he met comedian Henny Youngman and singer Dennis Day.
“They were in New Jersey doing grand openings and ribbon-cuttings for a hundred dollars each,” said Weiss. “Dennis Day was doing a show at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn and he and I became friends.”
Through that friendship, he met Day’s sister in law, actress Ann Blythe, whom he accompanied to an event in Beverly Hills during one of his business trips.
“I called my wife and asked her if it was OK,” he recalled.
His wife, Betty, died 30 years ago at the age of 58 of kidney failure.
He and his friend Joe Nagy were approached in the early 90’s about running Fanwood’s new community television station to be established by Suburban Cable, the only cable provider at the time.
“We had help from Bob Merkel of Scotch Plains TV, who taught us how to use a camera and other things,” said Weiss, who found used equipment to get the station up and running, a trend that would continue for 20 years.
“I enjoyed doing it,” he says. “I carried over my knowledge of graphics to TV.”
As the driving force behind Fanwood Community Television, Weiss videotaped hundreds of community events and Council meetings and edited hundreds of programs, many historical in nature, in the small space now called the “studio” on the second floor of the historic Fanwood train station on North Avenue.
“Everything ran on VHS tapes, played back on Panasonic VCRs that ran on an industrial timer that George lashed together to play one tape after the other,” said Fanwood Councilman Tom Kranz who is overseeing a modernization of the community television operation. “This is how Fanwood TV has operated for two decades. It’s amazing what George was able to do with very little money and donated equipment.”
Today, Mr. Weiss enjoys visits from his son, daughter and three grandsons and has started writing a movie script. The concept is still evolving, but it starts with a couple in the 1800’s who get trapped in a cave during a storm, live out their lives there and whose bodies are then discovered in modern times.
“I’m still working on the story,” he says.
And he is starting a music club at The Chelsea.
“I’m playing what the people here consider to be good music,” he said, holding a Mario Lanza CD.
He is enjoying what he calls his 5th retirement at The Chelsea. Who knows what will be next.
