Jack Kellner, a Honolulu broadcast executive who guided the careers of a generation of island news reporters, died Wednesday in Sonoma, Calif. He was 75.
His authoritative baritone guaranteed a career in broadcasting, and he spent his life as a radio and television newsman, anchor and TV news executive, most recently at KHON.
“In any short list of Hawaii broadcast legends, Jack Kellner’s name must be included,” friend and fellow broadcaster Don Robbs said Thursday.
Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Kellner earned a degree in broadcasting from Los Angeles City College in 1956 and parlayed that into radio jobs across the country. He was drafted into the Army in 1960 and served in South Korea.
After leaving the Army in 1962, Kellner came to Honolulu to join Army buddy Robbs.
Here Kellner found himself hosting “Lucky Lager Dance Time,” a radio show on KPOI, which led to a gig as one of the original “Poi Boys” on KPOI, where he worked with Tom Moffatt.
“You have to remember his caustic sense of humor,” Moffat says. Kellner, known as Rotten Jack, dreamt up countless radio stunts, including “Rotten Jack’s KPOI Record Buying Guide,” Moffatt recalled.
“He had a great radio voice,” he said. “His delivery was great.”
As a KGMB-TV reporter, Kellner covered the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and the Kalama Valley evictions over Hawaiian land rights, and interviewed Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
In 1971 Kellner served as director of the state Office of Information and Youth Services. He also served for several years as the voice of Hawaii Civil Defense and announced the monthly emergency test broadcasts.
When he moved into management at KHON, reporters saw him as a confidant and supporter in jobs ranging from assignment editor to news director.
When KHON sports anchor Joe Moore made the switch to news anchor, Kellner backed him up.
“A lot of people in the business were knocking it as a mistake that would never work,” Moore recalls. “Jack spoke out publicly, saying he endorsed the switch wholeheartedly. The support of a friend I admired so much as a serious newsman meant the world to me.”
Ann Botticelli, senior vice president for corporate communications at Hawaiian Airlines, was a reporter in the KHON newsroom and recalls Kellner’s subtle influence.
“Back then KHON was a competitive place. We were a team, but we competed for stories and position in the newscast,” Botticelli said. Kellner’s office was always filled with staffers “wanting to share the anxiety of the day,” she recalled.
“He was like everyone’s uncle. He would listen. He wouldn’t tolerate you coming in bellyaching. He would ask what you were going to do about it, help you puzzle it out and congratulate you on your decision,” Botticelli said. “He was a super influence in the newsroom.”
In a profile on Kellner by A.J. McWhorter in 2010, former KHON General Manager Kent Baker recalled that Kellner was key to the station’s early success in the 1980s.
“He provided advice, friendship and perspective to the journalists who made up the Channel 2 news department during those decades,” Baker said.
Kellner retired in 1999 and moved to Sonoma, north of San Francisco.
Robbs recalls that Kellner’s love of news and a good story was equaled only by his love for animals. “Buster was the first in a long line of dogs who owned Jack. Buster had the run of the Manoa home,” Robbs said.
“When Buster died he was buried in the backyard, and when the Kellners relocated to Sonoma, his headstone went with them. Last week in Sonoma I noticed Buster’s headstone in a prominent place outside the back door.”
For 25 years Kellner served on the board of the Hawaiian Humane Society. Pam Burns, Humane Society president and CEO, said he was always an active participant in helping find homes for animals.
“He had a great sense of humor and was very concerned with animal welfare,” Burns said. “He really cared about all animals. When he moved to Sonoma, he would keep track and was always emailing articles about animals. He was a very compassionate, intelligent and humorous man, and there aren’t enough people like him.”
Services are pending.
Kellner is survived by wife Tomeko “Tommie,” sister Barbara Lipow, son James “Aki” Peters, daughter Betty P. Santos and grandsons Jordan Santos, Dallas Santos, Wayne Santos, Jason Peters and Jeffrey Peters.
After leaving the Army in 1962, Kellner came to Honolulu to join Army buddy Robbs.