A memorial service will be held Friday night for George Fischbeck, a former science teacher who went onto deliver the weather for two decades on KABC-TV with a folksy style that earned him the moniker “Dr. George.”
Fischbeck died in March at age 92.
The “celebration of life” will be held at 7 p.m. at the Motion Picture Television Fund Theater, 23388 Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills. A procession that will include the California State Firemen’s Association Antique Horse Drawn Steamer will begin at 6:45 p.m.
Fischbeck delivered weather reports on Channel 7 for nearly 20 years until stepping down in 1990. He returned to TV as a weathercaster at KCBS from 1994 to 1997 before retiring for good.
Fischbeck was a public school teacher in Albuquerque for 23 years, and he hosted a science program that was televised throughout New Mexico, earning him statewide recognition. He went on to do weather reports on a local television station, catching the attention of KABC in Los Angeles.
Now-retired veteran newsman Pete Noyes, in a Facebook posting, recalled being Fischbeck’s first producer at KABC.
The news director at the time “was shaken by George’s first performance and asked me if he had made a mistake. I said he had to give George a chance; there was something magnetic about his style and delivery,” Noyes wrote. “It was unlike any other weather guesser in the business. And George certainly proved me right.”
Fischbeck’s on-air enthusiasm and trademark bow ties endeared him to viewers. He received a a Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and a lifetime achievement award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California.
—Staff and wire reports