NEW YORK — Using the power of television, he achieved international recognition for America’s leading performing artists as creator and Executive Producer of the PBS performing arts television series Great Performances. His work on the series inspired audiences nationwide and jumpstarted the careers of countless actors and performers.
Now, Jac Venza is being mourned, as he has passed away at the age of 97.
“Jac was a true pioneer,” said Neal Shapiro, President/CEO of The WNET Group. “Whenever I spoke with him, he was both proud of what WNET accomplished when he was here and also proud of all the great work that followed.”
Lured into the world of media production, Venza took a job with CBS in 1950, where he would stay for the next 12 years. In 1964, Venza took a leap to executive produce cultural programs at National Educational Television (NET), which would later become The WNET Group, home of New York’s flagship PBS station, WNET-13.
Venza has been honored with a Personal Peabody Award, 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Governors Award for Lifetime Achievement, the International Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the New York Emmy chapter’s Silver Circle Award, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Ralph Lowell Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions and achievements to public media. Until 2010, Venza held the Emmy Award record for the most nominations for an individual with 57 nominations.
