Betty Cole Dukert Obituary, Death Cause – On March 16, Betty Cole Dukert, who had begun her career in Washington as a secretary in the 1950s and subsequently became the top producer of the weekly public affairs program “Meet the Press” on NBC News, passed away at her home in Bethesda, Maryland. She had been a member of the NBC News family for many years. Her age was 96.
Her niece Barbara Dukert Smith, who was the niece of her late husband, stated that the cause was problems related to Alzheimer’s illness. Mrs. Dukert was responsible for booking politicians, diplomats, foreign dignitaries, cultural figures, and heart surgeons to be interviewed by a moderator and a panel of journalists during her 41 years of tenure at “Meet the Press,” which was a Sunday morning fixture on the NBC schedule. She also sought out the most capable reporters for the panel and conducted research on the topics that were going to be discussed.
Betsy Fischer Martin, who began her career on “Meet the Press” as an intern and eventually became the program’s executive producer in 2002, stated that “She was the main point of contact on Capitol Hill for the show.” “She was continuously in charge of the telephones. It was not a time when you could just send an email to someone in order to make a reservation.
Mrs. Dukert worked with a long variety of moderators as she progressed through the ranks of “Meet the Press.” These moderators included Ned Brooks, Lawrence Spivak, Bill Monroe, Roger Mudd, Marvin Kalb, Chris Wallace, Garrick Utley, and Tim Russert. In 1970, Mr. Spivak made the following statement to the Missouri newspaper The Springfield Leader and Press: “I have never found anyone who is nicer to work with, more intelligent, and whose judgment and tact are so superb.”
During a significant portion of her tenure at “Meet the Press,” which made its debut in 1947, Mrs. Dukert was a rare occurrence: she was a woman working in a top production post at a major network news program that did not have a female moderator on a permanent basis. When Kristen Welker took over for Chuck Todd as host of the program a year ago, there was no such option available. In contrast, Lesley Stahl worked as the moderator for “Face the Nation” on CBS, which is a rival program to “Meet the Press,” from the years 1983 for the duration of 1991.
