Madeline Amgott

Madeline Amgott was a pioneer for women in media who produced television news in an era when it was dominated by men.

She was born Madeline Rochelle Barotz on August 31, 1921, in the Bronx, New York. She graduated from Brooklyn College and worked for the Washington bureau of what was then the The San Diego Union. After returning to New York, she went to work for CBS News in 1955.

While at CBS in the early 1960s, she championed Calendar, a daytime news program aimed at women and hosted by longtime newsman Harry Reasoner. She left the show when she was not promoted to producer when a vacancy became available and moved on to WABC, where she was given the oportunity to produce.

Her other production credits included episodes of the iconic magazine program 60 Minutes and a version for children called 30 Minutes, for which she won three Daytime Emmy Awards.

She also produced Not for Women Only, a discussion show with Barbara Walters; the PBS series In Search of the Constitution, with Bill Moyers; and segments of CBS's Morning News. Years later, in 2003, she produced an hourlong film for PBS about the artist Hans Hofmann.

In 1975 she was honored with a Matrix Award by New York Women in Communications.

Amgott died July 19, 2014, in New York City. She was 92.