NEW YORK, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Longtime CBS news producer and executive Lane Venardos died of a heart attack in Hawaii at age of 67, the network announced.
Venardos won 13 Emmy Awards during his long career, which included stints as vice president of hard news for CBS and executive producer of "CBS Evening News."
"Lane was a wonderful and talented man who had a great gift: He had the ability to make everyone around him smile and laugh no matter what the circumstances," Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News, said in a written statement.
Venardos was in charge of the network's coverage of several significant news events, including the Gulf War, the showdown at Tianamen Square and a number of international summits. After his retirement to Maui in 2000, he acted as an event-production consultant on CBS' groundbreaking "Survivor" and other reality series including "The Apprentice" and "The Contender."
CBS said memorial arrangements were pending Sunday.
