University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Noteworthy People of UNI Documents Noteworthy People of UNI 12-1-1996 Tom Pettit dies, was award-winning journalist and UNI alumnus, Northern Iowa Today, Winter 1996 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/uninoteworthy_documents Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Recommended Citation "Tom Pettit dies, was award-winning journalist and UNI alumnus, Northern Iowa Today, Winter 1996" (1996). Noteworthy People of UNI Documents. 136. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/uninoteworthy_documents/136 This Document is brought to you for free and open access by the Noteworthy People of UNI at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Noteworthy People of UNI Documents by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tom Pettit dies, was award­ winning journalist and UNI alumnus Tom Pettit, an award-winning TV reporter and 1953 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa (then Iowa State Teacher's College), died in December 1995 following heart surge1y complicati ons. He was 64. Pettit, who retired from NBC ews earlier in 1995, was honored with three Emmys , a Peabody Award and the Polk Memo ri al Award in a career that stretched from the Eisenhower era to the Clinton administration. Pettit gained wide fa me with his 1963 report from outside the Dallas City Jail. Standing only six feet away, Pettit was the onl y broadcaster on the scene and on the air when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. Born in Cincinnati, Pettit grew up in Iowa and graduated from Waterloo West High School. His first taste of journalism was as a staff member of Iowa State Teachers College's CollegeEye student newspaper. Pettit wrote a popular weekly column satirizing Mickey Spillane, the writer of myste1y novels. Throughout his career, Pettit never forgot his ties to U I. The University honored him in 1972 with its U I Alumni Achievement Award. In 1982, he gave his $1,750 honorarium for speaking on campus to the UNI Foundation to be used for scholarships. Pettit also taught two summer journalism seminars on national election coverage and general public affairs reporting in 1987. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and four children from a previous marriage. .