Arthur Watson, Former President of NBC Sports, Dies at Age 61

NEW YORK —  Arthur Watson, former NBC Sports president who was responsible for bringing two consecutive Summer Olympics to the network, died Thursday at age 61.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Arthur Watson,” said Dick Ebersol, who succeeded Watson as the president of NBC Sports. “In a business as competitive and sometimes as cold as television, Arthur was always the shining reminder that there is a place for great human beings.”

Watson died unexpectedly at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J. The cause of death was not released.

Watson was president of NBC Sports from July, 1979, until April, 1989, when he was named executive vice president of NBC and put in charge of sports rights negotiations.

Watson brought broadcasters Bob Costas, Dick Enberg and Marv Albert to NBC and was in charge of negotiations that earned NBC exclusive rights to the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and to the Barcelona Games in 1992.

Watson was a graduate of Fordham University and received an honorary doctorate from St. John’s University in 1978. He was born in New York and lived with his wife, Maryalesia, in Saddle River, N.J. He is survived by his wife, their four children--Arthur Jr., Keith, Lisa and Scott--and four grandchildren.