Utah Public Radio Notes Death of USU Alum and NPR Founder Don Quayle

Utah Public Radio, a service of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University, notes the death of Don Quayle, a USU alum and the individual known as the first president of National Public Radio. He died April 17, 2015, at the age of 84.

According to a UPR report, Quayle helped establish NPR in 1970 and served as its president until 1973.  He was also credited with being instrumental in building KUSU at Utah State University, which would later become Utah Public Radio after affiliating with NPR.

Utah State University awarded Quayle an honorary degree in 2010, the Doctor of Humane Letters, for his “life-long commitment to the advancement and quality of public radio.”

The news of Quayle’s death was covered not only in the UPR report but in tributes on National Public Radio.

• Listen to the UPR report by Evan Hall.

• Susan Stamberg, special correspondent for Morning Edition, remembered Quayle in a piece on National Public Radio.