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Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Thomas Foty -- former executive editor of UPI Radio and longtime CBS News Radio anchor and reporter -- died unexpectedly Tuesday at the age of 77, leaving behind what stunned colleagues called an "institutional void." Foty, who was on the air for CBS News as recently as last week, was remembered by fellow broadcasters as a kind and hardworking journalist who covered "some of the biggest stories of our times."
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"I'm shocked and devastated to learn of the death of my former UPI colleague and friend, CBS Radio correspondent Tom Foty. Tom was an original and touched the lives of hundreds in the broadcast industry," Ken Robinson, former senior editor at UPI Radio Network, wrote in a post on Facebook. "There are countless people who will miss him."
Keith Olbermann, sports and political commentator, remembered Foty from their early days at UPI and called his loss an "awful shock."
"The legendary radio newsman Tom Foty, who was a stalwart at UPI when I started in 1979 and was a stalwart at CBS Radio this week, has died, per the network," Olbermann wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "The number of people in news whose life he touched must be in the thousands. Supportive, realistic, a friend. Awful shock."
Foty was born in Budapest, Hungary, and came to the United States at the age of 10 as a refugee following the Hungarian revolution of 1956.
Before joining UPI, Foty worked as a news writer at all-news station WINS-AM in New York and as a contributing producer for National Public Radio.
In 1973, Foty joined UPI Radio Network in New York, where he covered some of the biggest stories of the 1970s, including the "Son of Sam" murders and the 1975 Eastern Airlines crash at John F. Kennedy Airport.
Foty also was instrumental in UPI's coverage of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. UPI's photographer Hugh Van Es captured an iconic image of the fall of Saigon, as people desperately boarded a helicopter atop a building, while UPI Bureau Chief Alan Dawson and reporter Paul Vogel stayed longer to capture the story.
"I was on duty when the North Vietnamese troops marched into Saigon," Foty remembered in 2015, adding that he took Dawson's final radio spots and put them on the network.
In 1977, Foty transferred to the Washington UPI Radio Network bureau, where he covered the White House during the Carter and Reagan administrations, as well as the State Department and Congress. In a 1980 broadcast on UPI Radio, Foty wrapped up the year's biggest stories with co-anchor Gene Gibbons.
Foty also covered major breaking news stories, including the People's Temple mass suicide-murders in Guyana and the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, before he was named Washington bureau manager of the network in 1982 and UPI Radio Network's executive editor in 1984.
"Tom Foty is one of the most knowledgeable employees the Network has ever had," Richard S. Boggs, vice president and Network general manager said as he announced Foty's promotion nearly 40 years ago. "He is a highly skilled reporter, engineer and quality control manager."
Foty went on to join NBC News Radio as Deputy Washington Bureau Chief before co-founding AudioCenter Productions, which was one of the first Internet streaming services.
Foty worked as a reporter and technical adviser for all-news WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., starting in 1997, before becoming part of the award-winning coverage for CBS News Radio, where he covered the Bush-Gore recount, the D.C. area snipers and the September 11 attacks.
WTOP anchor Dimitri Sotis, who was also a former UPI employee, said, "Tom Foty always put in the work."
"He was ready to produce a report of high quality at three in the afternoon, three in the morning, or any other hour of the day."
"So sorry to hear CBS reporting passing of Tom Foty. Tom really was the ultimate 'radio guy,'" WTOP reporter Neal Augenstein wrote in a post on X. "Distinguished careers at the network, WTOP, WINS, self-appointed historian of UPI Radio. Terrific fellow. Very sad to hear."
CBS News colleague Bill Rehkopf called Foty irreplaceable.
"Radio has lost a quiet giant. My friend Tom Foty was one of the kindest people I knew in the business. Had an amazing career covering some of the biggest stories of our times," Rehkopf wrote in a post on X.
"His death leaves an institutional void at CBS News Radio that won't be filled. Rest in peace, Tom."
