Edward Lee Herp

Edward Lee Herp Edward Lee Herp, 83, the former general manager for WFSU-TV, died Wednesday, March 10, 2004. The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. EST Saturday at Saint Paul's United Methodist Church. Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, Timberlane Road Chapel (893-4177) is handling arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to WFSU TV, 1600 Red Barber Plaza, Tallahassee, FL 32310, or Saint Paul's United Methodist Church, 1700 N. Meridian Road, Tallahassee, FL 32303. He was born on March 1, 1921, in Louisville, Ky., the son of Henry and Mamie Herp. He attended school at Christ the King and Dupont Manual High School in Louisville. After graduation he traveled with a dance band as the reed man and featured vocalist until World War II, when he was taken into the Army Signal Corps. He served overseas in the European Theater as a captain attached to the U.S. Air Force. After the war he graduated in three years from the School of Speech at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Following graduation from Minneapolis Television Lab in July 1950, he was employed by WKRC-TV, Cincinnati, in production. After two years, he and his family moved to Cleveland, where he worked in commercial television for eight years producing and directing at WJW, the CBS affiliate. In 1959 he moved to public television, WQED in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he acted as producer/director for two years "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" was one of his shows. In August 1961 he was hired by Florida State University as director of university broadcasting for WFSU-TV and WFSU-FM. A few years later, the two were split into separate departments. Mr. Herp was instrumental in the expansion, design and building of the present WFSU-TV facility, where he retired in 1988. While in Cincinnati he set up the television course of Cincinnati Conservatory and in Cleveland he designed the television department at Baldwin Wallace College, teaching TV production at each of these institutions. Mr. Herp was an active Kiwanis Club member and a 40-year member of Saint Paul's United Methodist Church, where one of his joys was singing in the choir. He was also one of the founders of Goodwill Industries in Tallahassee. Mrs. Herp volunteered weekly at Gilchrist and Chaires Elementary Schools, working with kindergartners. He is survived by three children, Sandra Herp Poppell of Havana, Suzanne Herp Williams of Jacksonville and Cary Allen Herp of Tallahassee; a stepdaughter, Kay Chavez of Tallahassee; six grandchildren; a great-grandson; and a sister, Alberta Herp Hodge of Valrico. He was preceded in death by his second wife, Kathy.