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Bill Kurtis Journalist

Bill Kurtis has earned the respect of viewers, colleagues and competitors in television journalism for more than thirty years. Since 1991, millions of viewers have joined Kurtis, executive producer and anchor of the Emmy Award-winning "Investigative Reports" on the A&E Network, and since 1992, he has been the anchor of A&E's "American Justice". Kurtis is also executive producer and anchor of "Cold Case Files", which launched as a stand-alone series in June 2002.

In the mid-1960s, Bill Kurtis faced an important choice between two career paths -- television or the more traditional role of a Kansas lawyer.

"Although I had accepted a job with a trial firm in Wichita, I was still reporting for a local station when a tornado literally ripped a new highway through the state capital. I was on the air at the time and saw firsthand what television can do. In this case, it saved lives with its instant warning and my career decision was made."

Television held the promise of the future and Kurtis headed directly for Chicago, not knowing the next four years would be one of the most wrenching periods in the country's history. The last half of the sixties was a time of protest, riots, cities on fire, and for a young reporter seeing it from the streets of Chicago, it was an incredible "education."

By 1973, Kurtis had teamed up with Walter Jacobson at WBBM-TV (CBS) and over the next nine years, they made Chicago television history. As a news team, they established a formidable record for covering news, and in the process Kurtis initiated several innovative practices which have become standards for the business today, including local "foreign correspondent" reports from the field and his "Focus" unit investigations.

By 1982, CBS Network News beckoned, asking him to anchor the "CBS Morning News" from New York, where for three and-a-half years he also completed a series of hour-long documentaries for the prestigious "CBS Reports," exploring subjects from organ transplants to airline safety.

In 1985, Bill Kurtis returned to Chicago with a new dream, to expand the traditional long-form journalism reports into new areas. He founded Kurtis Productions in 1990 and joined A&E Network in 1991. In 2001, he expanded Kurtis Productions to include High Definition television projects. Amassing one of the nation's largest libraries of High Definition stock footage, Kurtis is re-shooting the world in a continuing effort to widen the library's holdings.

Kurtis is executive producer and anchor of "Investigative Reports," the longest running series on television devoting a full hour to a single, contemporary news topic. "Investigative Reports" recently won the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award for the Kurtis-Produced program, Death Penalty on Trial.

Bill Kurtis also anchors "American Justice", A&E's signature weekly primetime series on criminal justice in America.

Over the decades, Bill Kurtis has been the recipient of scores of awards for excellence in journalism. Recent awards include: the Illinois Broadcasters Hall of Fame Award; William Allen White Foundation Citation from the University of Kansas; election to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Washington; Excellence in Journalism Award from the International Press Center, Chicago; Peter Lisagor Award for Public Service from the Society of Professional Journalists; The Genesis Award; Western Heritage Award; CAMPI; the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Male Media Personality of the Decade; Overseas Press Club Award for International Reporting Demonstrating Concern for Humanity; the Broadcast Advertising Club of Chicago's Person of the Year; the UNICEF World of Children Award; NATAS-Chicago/Midwest Chapter Silver Circle Award for 25 years of merit in television journalism; Wichita Crime Commission Service Award; Rerum Novarum Business Award; Jesse Owens Humanitarian Award; the Decalogue Society of Jewish Lawyers Award; and Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications' "Salute to Bill Kurtis". Bill Kurtis has received over 20 Emmy Awards from the Chicago Chapter of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

A native of Independence, Kan., Kurtis graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Journalism in 1962. In 1966, he received a law degree from Washburn University School of Law and passed the Kansas Bar that year. A member of the American Bar Association, Mr. Kurtis also holds several Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the National Park Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the Kansas State Historical Society, as well as numerous other national and Chicago area private and civic institutions, with an emphasis on those involving natural history and the environment.

Bill Kurtis' avocation? He travels around the world for his stories, but his 8,000 acre Red Buffalo Ranch near Sedan, Kan., is where he roams whenever possible. The ranch sits in a corner of the nation's largest remaining tract of Tall Grass Prairie, a conservation project for Bill, whose commitment to the environment and to land restoration is paramount to him. He is in the process of renovating the town of Sedan, as well as the site of the "Little House on the Prairie," owned by his family. Last year, he was honored to accept the 2001 J. Sterling Morton Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation for his lifelong dedication to conservation.

— Courtesy A&E