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“We’ll take ‘Best Town’ for $500, Bill!”
ill Whitaker, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, recently guest hosted Jeopardy!, the American television game show created by Merv Griffin and hosted by Alex Trebek for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020.
From left, Media Fellowship House Executive Director Heather Bickley, siblings Gail Whitaker, Bill Whitaker and Anita Whitaker Johnson, and MFH Board President Rachel Smith. “Fellowship House has been a force in the community for decades with programs including education, housing and scholarships. The infusion of cash will help secure all of these to go on,” Whitaker said. It is rewarding when those who have achieved success do not forget their roots. Renowned journalist Bill Whitaker was in the borough to be thanked for remembering his hometown in a big way.
Thanks to contestants’ winnings over the course of Whitaker’s stint, and his selection of this worthwhile organization, the total was $257,998. (A $2 bill donation during the dinner rounded out the figure nicely.)
Media Police Officers Helmandollar, Bellucci, Young and Dintino, along with Mayor McMahon and DCBA Member Gail M. Whitaker, Esquire, DCBA Past President, 2003, welcomed Bill Whitaker (Gail’s brother), a Media native, to Dining Under The Stars (DUTS).
More about a favorite from “Everybody’s Hometown” … Bill Whitaker, a native of Media, PA, graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges with a B.A. degree in American history and from Boston University with a master’s degree in AfricanAmerican studies. Whitaker also holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1997.
Now with “CBS 60 Minutes,” Whitaker took a side gig as one of the guest hosts on “Jeopardy” after the passing of Alex Trebek. The hosts were offered the opportunity to choose an organization to receive a sum matching contestants’ winning. In choosing Media Fellowship House, Whitaker reached back more than 75 years to the founding of this social justice organization which had been inspired and co-founded by his and Gail’s mother, Marie, after a witnessed incident of racial discrimination at the State Street restaurant.
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He has covered major news stories domestically and across the globe for CBS News over four decades. He is the 2018 winner of the Radio Television Digital News Association’s (RTDNA) highest honor, the Paul White Award for career achievement. He was named a 60 Minutes correspondent in March 2014; the 2020-21 season is his seventh on the broadcast. •
