Wednesday, November 17, 2004 9:03 PM
Sid Graw, who managed negotiations for NBC with such network luminaries as Tom Brokaw, Tom Snyder and Bryant Gumbel, died of congestive heart failure at his home in Rancho Bernardo on October 5. He was 86.
Graw joined NBC in 1963 as financial administrator for all West Coast radio and television news. He remained with NBC, working out of KNBC’s Burbank headquarters until 1979.
From 1979-1981, he joined the William Morris Agency in Los Angeles as a news talent agent. Then, he returned to NBC for 10 more years, serving as a consultant in talent procurement for both the owned station division and the network.
A Pearl Harbor survivor, Graw served in
the U.S. Army and retired with the rank of major in 1960. He served in both Europe and the Pacific in WWII. Utilizing his extensive military contacts, he brought six Vietnamese families to California after the fall of Saigon. They were families of foreign staff employees of NBC, who had served the network during the Vietnam war.
Graw was a former member of the L.A. Press Club and was active in the Press Club of Rancho Bernardo up to the time of his death.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, LaVerne. They had no children. A full military memorial service was held Friday, October 15, at the Sorrento Valley Chapel with interment afterwards at El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego.
