Bernard Waterman, founder of Waterman Broadcasting, dies at 96

Even after more than three decades at the helm of Waterman Broadcasting, Bernard Waterman stayed committed to the people side of his business, whether by coaching, keeping his office door open or sharing meals with colleagues.

“His wife, Edith, always made him a brown-bag lunch, and he’d eat in the lunchroom with all sorts of employees,” said Steven Pontius, executive vice president and general manager of Waterman Broadcasting. “People sometimes couldn’t believe it. He owned every aspect of Waterman Broadcasting, but he ate his egg salad sandwich right there with everyone else.”

Waterman, founder of the broadcasting group that owns local TV stations NBC2 and ABC7, as well as NBC29 in Charlottesville, died Sunday afternoon at his Sanibel home. He was 96.

Waterman’s colleagues, who affectionately called him Bernie, remember him as a television news pioneer with a passion for journalism and mentorship.

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“He was a mentor to hundreds of people,” Pontius said. “Even though he was passionate about the company being a good business, he was more passionate about the journalism. He wanted us to take on causes and do investigative reporting. He wanted young reporters to follow the basics of journalism and ethics.”

Waterman’s passion for journalism started during his time in the U.S. Navy, according to an online profile from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, from which Waterman graduated in 1949. Waterman served in the Navy for four years — two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific.

He walked into a naval office in the Pacific that read “Newspaper” on the door and asked if he could work there, the profile states. Waterman is quoted as saying he had never written a story before, but when he was assigned a story about an obstacle course, he found someone who knew what that was and wrote the story.

When he returned a month later to the naval office, he found his story on the newspaper’s front page, according to the profile.

While Waterman’s ship was docked in Mobile, Alabama, the woman who would become his wife caught his eye. He sent Edith Bryant letters every day until the war ended and married her Aug. 24, 1946.

“Theirs was a love affair,” Pontius said. “After Bernie died, Edith said to me, ‘I feel like half a person now.’ ”

Although Waterman was offered a position as a Navy officer decommissioning ships, he decided to attend the University of Missouri’s journalism school.

During his junior year, he worked for the sports section of the Columbia Missourian, a newspaper that now publishes five days a week in print. He also worked as a correspondent for the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Star-Times, according to the University of Missouri profile. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch bought the Star-Times in 1951.

After graduation, the Watermans moved to Springfield, Illinois, and he worked as a sports editor for a major newspaper, worked as a news and special events director at a TV station and was president of the Midwest Sports Network. He also worked as a sports announcer for national network shows.

Waterman loved news as much as he loved business. His entrepreneurial spirit drew him and his wife to Worcester, Massachusetts, where they bought their first radio station in 1956. They went on to buy and build other radio stations in Massachusetts and Texas in the 1960s.

In 1977, the couple bought WBBH-TV, or NBC2, in Fort Myers. They bought NBC29 in Charlottesville in 1986, and ABC7 in 1994.

The Watermans became Sanibel residents in the early 1990s.

In the NBC2 and ABC7 newsrooms, Waterman’s colleagues and employees knew he always kept his office door open to whoever wanted to talk.

“We don’t have secretaries here,” Pontius said. “In some instances, I resent that, but in other instances, Bernie taught me that you don’t want barriers between you and staff. Take time and listen to them.”

Waterman hired Pontius on Thanksgiving 32 years ago.

“He was an integral part of my life,” Pontius said.

Listening and mentoring was an important part of Waterman’s job. Pontius said Waterman liked working with reporters on their writing skills and called him a “demanding taskmaster.”

“He pushed people hard,” Pontius said in an email. “Much as a football coach pushes his players to improve.”

Waterman also believed in the power of technology and, according to Pontius, bought one of the first true Doppler weather radars for the broadcasting company. He pushed his employees to beat the competition in whatever they did. Waterman wanted his employees to do things faster, better, more complete and more in-depth.

The Watermans made their passion and commitment to journalism known, but they were quiet in their philanthropic contributions to the community.

They supported medical research at the Mayo Clinic, forming the Bernard and Edith Waterman Center for Cancer Genetics in 2004.

“We all knew we couldn’t have him forever,” Pontius said. “Intellectually, we knew this day would come. We’re sad it has come but happy to have known the man. He had a great life and a great impact on a lot of us.”