Shelly Yachimovich
Date of birth	(1960-03-28) 28 March 1960 (age 52)
Place of birth	Kfar Saba, Israel
Knessets	17, 18
Party	Labor Party

Shelly Yachimovich (Hebrew: שלי יחימוביץ׳‎, born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli journalist and politician. A member of the Knesset since 2006, she is currently leader of the Israeli Labor Party and the Leader of the Opposition.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Yachimovich was born in Kfar Saba. Her parents were Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from Poland.^[1] In 1985, Yachimovich graduated from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a degree in behavioural science.^[2] She lives in south Tel Aviv and has two children, Gal and Rama. ^[3]

Journalism and media career[link]

While studying in Beersheba, she worked as a correspondent for the Al HaMishmar newspaper. She went on to become an anchor for the Israel Broadcasting Authority's radio station Reshet Bet, earning a reputation as opinionated and critical of conventional wisdom and the establishment.^[4] She has also been described as an assertive, abrasive radio journalist with very pronounced feminist and social-democratic views.^[5] As a journalist, she covered women's and social welfare issues. In October 2000, following a work dispute, she left her radio job and joined Channel 2 TV, where she hosted a political talk show and served as a news commentator. She also did a weekly program for Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal). She has written two novels, "Eshet Ish" (2001) and "Miskhakei Zuggot" (2003) and recently published a nonfiction book, "Anakhnu" (2011).^[6]

Political career[link]

On 29 November 2005, two weeks after Amir Peretz had become leader of the Labor Party, Yachimovich announced she was leaving journalism and entering politics. She ran in the Labor primaries and won ninth place on the party's list for the 2006 elections, in which she was elected to the Knesset. She retained her seat in the 2009 elections, in fifth place the Labor list. After Ehud Barak left the Labor Party to form Independence in January 2011, a poll found that Yachimovich was the most popular of the likely candidates for leadership of the Labor Party.^[7]

On 3 March 2011 Yachimovich declared her candidacy for chairman of the party and sought to sign up new members for the party. By the time the membership drive ended on 6 June, Yachimovich, according to estimates, had signed up more than 17,300 new members. In the primary election for chairman, held on 12 September, Yachimovich came in first among the four contenders, defeating Peretz by a slim margin of 32% to 31%. Since the Labor party constitution requires a minimum of 40% of the votes for a first round decision, a run-off was held on 21 September, resulting in a 54% to 46% victory (a margin of slightly more than 3,500 votes) over Peretz. In the early hours of 22 September, Yachimovich was officially declared chairperson of the Labor Party at party headquarters, the second woman to hold that position.^[8]

Following the announcement on the formation of a unity government on 8 May, 2012 and Kadima's departure from the opposition, the Labor Party became the largest party in the opposition. As such , Yachimovich was nominated unopposed as Leader of the Opposition.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shelly Yachimovich Knesset website

Ehud Barak
Minister of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office March 28, 2007
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert Benjamin Netanyahu
Preceded by	Amir Peretz
Prime Minister of Israel
In office 6 July 1999 – 7 March 2001
President	Ezer Weizman Moshe Katsav
Preceded by	Benjamin Netanyahu
Succeeded by	Ariel Sharon
Personal details
Born	Ehud Brog (1942-02-12) 12 February 1942 (age 70) Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine
Political party	Labor Party (until 2011) Independence (from 2011)
Spouse(s)	Nava Cohen (divorced) Nili Priel
Children	3
Alma mater	Hebrew University Stanford University
Profession	Military officer
Religion	Judaism
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	Israeli Army
Years of service	1959 - 1995
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	Yom Kippur War Operation Entebbe

Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אהוד ברק (help·info); born Ehud Brog on 12 February 1942) is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011^[1] and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government.

He is a graduate in physics, mathematics, and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stanford University. He served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following a highly decorated career, he was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1991, serving until 1995.

Personal life[link]

He was born on 12 February 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in Israel.^[2] He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin) (b. 1913) and Yisrael Mendel Brog (1910-2002).

His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas (Pushelat) in the northern Lithuania (then ruled by Russian Empire) in 1912, leaving his father orphaned at the age of two. Barak's maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, died at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.

Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1972. It was during his military service that he met his future wife, Nava (née Cohen). They had three daughters together. Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On 30 July 2007 Barak married Nili Priel in a small ceremony in his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.^[3]

In 2005, he was voted the 61st-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.^[4]

Education[link]

Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University, in California.

Military service[link]

Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.) in 1959. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf (Lieutenant-General), the highest in the Israeli military. During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890 commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai who were suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Chinese Farm.

Ehud Barak with Legion of Merit (1993)

During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: "Operation Isotope", the rescue mission to free the hostages onboard Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport in 1972; the 1973 covert mission Operation Spring of Youth in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Operation Entebbe, another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September. It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on 16 April 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was assassinated.^[5]

Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983–85), head of Central Command (1986–87) and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (1987–91). He served as Chief of the General Staff between 1 April 1991 and 1 January 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations (Tzalash HaRamatkal) for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history (jointly with close friend Nechemya Cohen).^[6] In 1992 he was also awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States.^[7]

Political career[link]

On 7 July 1995 Barak was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Yitzhak Rabin. When Shimon Peres formed a new government following Rabin's assassination in November 1995, Barak was made Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995–96). He was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in 1996, and served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Following internal elections after Peres' defeat in the election for Prime Minister in 1996, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.

Prime Minister of Israel[link]

Barak at the Pentagon (1999)

In the 1999 Prime Ministerial election, Barak beat Binyamin Netanyahu by a wide margin. However, he sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, who had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader Aryeh Deri, a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially, the left wing Meretz party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education.

Ehud Barak shaking hands with Yassir Arafat, joined by President Clinton (1999)

In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On 24 May 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On 7 October, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by Hezbollah and their bodies were subsequently captured. The bodies of these soldiers, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004.

The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the PLO, stating that “Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don’t vote it is an apartheid state.”^[8] As part of these negotiations, Barak took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant finally to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.

Domestic issues[link]

In August 1999, Barak appointed the Tal committee which dealt with the controversial issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from military service. Riots in October 2000 led to the killing of twelve Israeli-Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs.

Resignation[link]

In 2001 Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. In the contest, he was defeated by Likud leader Ariel Sharon, and subsequently resigned as Labor leader and from the Knesset. He left Israel to work as a senior advisor with United States-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work.

Return to politics[link]

In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labor Party in November. However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of the race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres. Following his failed attempt to maintain leadership of the Labor party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners, Pennsylvania. He also established a company "Ehud Barak Limited" which is thought to have made over NIS 30 million.^[9]

After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left the Labor party, Barak announced he would stay at the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. He declared, however, that he would not run for a spot on the Labor party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections. Barak's attempt to return to a prominent role in Israel politics seemed to have failed. However, Peretz's hold on the Labor leadership proved unexpectedly shaky as he was badly damaged by negative views of his performance as Defense Minister during the 2006 Lebanon War, which was seen as something less than a success in Israel.^[10]

In January 2007 Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor party in a letter acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister.^[11] In early March 2007, a poll of Labor Party primary voters put Barak ahead of all other opponents, including Peretz.^[12] In the first round of voting, on 28 May 2007, he gained 39% of the votes, more than his two closest rivals, but not enough to win the election.^[13]

As a result, Barak faced a runoff against the second-place finisher, Ami Ayalon, on 12 June 2007, which he won by a narrow margin.^[14]

Barak has been critical of what he sees as racist sentiments that have recently been expressed by some Israeli rabbis and rebbetzins; he views such statements as a threat to Israeli unity and that they may lead Israeli society into a "dark and dangerous place".^[15]

Defense Minister[link]

Ehud Barak and Condoleezza Rice (2007)

As head of the Labor Party[link]

After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on 18 June 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. However on 1 July 2007, Barak led a successful effort in the Labor central committee to stipulate that Labor would leave the government coalition if Olmert did not resign by September or October 2007. At that time the Winograd Commission would publish its final report on the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and its civilian leadership. The preliminary Winograd report released earlier this year laid most of the blame on Olmert for poorly planning, executing, and reviewing war strategies in the 2006 conflict against Hezbollah.^{[citation needed]}

During December 2008 through January 2009, Barak led (as defense minister) Operation Cast Lead.

Labor won only 13 out of the 120 Knesset seats in the 2009 elections, making them the fourth largest party. Barak and other Labor officials initially stated they would not take part in the next government. However, over the objections of some in the Labor party, Barak later^[when?] reached an agreement under which Labor joined the governing coalition. Barak retained his position as Defense Minister.

Leaving the Labor Party[link]

In January 2011, Labor Party leader Barak formed a breakaway party, Independence, which enabled him to maintain his loyal Labor's MK faction within Netanyahu's government, and prevented the departure of Labor party as a whole from Netanyahu's coalition-government. Labor previously threatened to force Barak to do so. After Barak's move, Netanyahu was able to maintain a majority of 66 MK (out of 120 in the Knesset), previously having 74 MKs within his majority coalition.

In February 2011, Barak attended a ceremony at the UN for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Barak told the UN General Assembly: “an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead. On this day, when we remember the six million victims, let us also remember two lessons: first, ‘the Holocaust – never again.’ And second – an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead.”^[16]

Barak stated during an American television interview that he would "probably" strive for nuclear weapons if he were in Iran’s position, adding "I don’t delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel".^[17] This comment has been criticized and compared to Barak's comment in 1998 during a television interview when he said that if he were a Palestinian he would probably have joined one of the terror organizations.^[17]

References in popular culture[link]

• The film Munich includes a scene reflecting the real Barak's experience leading his Sayeret Matkal unit in the commando raid Operation Spring of Youth; he is mentioned by name, and appears disguised as a woman in high heels while firing on presumed PLO Leaders.^[18]

See also[link]

	Israel portal
	Biography portal

• List of Israel's Chiefs of the General Staff

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ehud Barak

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ehud Barak

Bibliography[link]

• Bregman, Ahron Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America.
• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
• Dromi, Uri (5 November 2005). "Still craving peace 10 years after Rabin". New Straits Times, p. 20.

External links[link]

• Ehud Barak – official site (Hebrew)
• Ehud Barak Knesset website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Ehud Barak on Charlie Rose
• Ehud Barak at the Internet Movie Database
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Electronic Intifada
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Ehud Barak in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ehud Barak at the Notable Names Database
• Defense Minister Ehud Barak at Ynetnews, profile

v t e Heads of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate Be'eri (1948–49) · Herzog (1949–50) · Gibli (1950–55) · Harkabi (1955–59) · Herzog (1959–62) · Amit (1962–63) · Yariv (1964–72) · Zeira (1972–74) · Gazit (1974–78) · Saguy (1979–83) · Barak (1983–85) · Lipkin-Shahak (1986–91) · Sagi (1991–95) · Ya'alon (1995–98) · Malka (1998–2002) · Ze'evi-Farkash (2002–06) · Yadlin (2006–2010) · Kochavi (2010–)

v t e Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Tzvi Ayalon (1948–49) Mordechai Maklef (1949–52) Haim Laskov (1955–56) Tzvi Tzur (1958) Yitzhak Rabin (1961–63) Haim Bar-Lev (1967–68) Israel Tal (1973) Yekutiel Adam (1978–82) Moshe Levi (1982–83) David Ivry (1983–85) Dan Shomron (1985–86) Amir Drori (1986–87) Ehud Barak (1987–91) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1991–94) Matan Vilnai (1994–97) Shaul Mofaz (1997–98) Uzi Dayan (1998–99) Moshe Ya'alon (1999–2002) Gabi Ashkenazi (2002–04) Dan Halutz (2004–05) Moshe Kaplinsky (2005–07) Dan Harel (2007–09) Benny Gantz (2009–10) Yair Naveh (2010–present)

v t e Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Yaakov Dori (1947–49) Yigael Yadin (1949–52) Mordechai Maklef (1952–53) Moshe Dayan (1953–58) Haim Laskov (1958–61) Tzvi Tzur (1961–64) Yitzhak Rabin (1964–68) Haim Bar-Lev (1968–72) David Elazar (1972–74) Mordechai Gur (1974–78) Rafael Eitan (1978–83) Moshe Levi (1983–87) Dan Shomron (1987–91) Ehud Barak (1991–95) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1995–98) Shaul Mofaz (1998–2002) Moshe Ya'alon (2002–05) Dan Halutz (2005–07) Gabi Ashkenazi (2007–2011) Benny Gantz (2011–present)

v t e Prime Ministers of Israel Ben-Gurion (1948–53) Sharett (1953–55) Ben-Gurion (1955–63) Eshkol (1963–69) Allon (acting) Meir (1969–74) Rabin (1974–77) Begin (1977–83) Shamir (1983–84) Peres (1984–86) Shamir (1986–92) Rabin (1992–95) Peres (1995–96) Netanyahu (1996–99) Barak (1999–2001) Sharon (2001–06) Olmert (2006–09) Netanyahu (2009–present)

v t e Agriculture and Rural Development Ministers of Israel Zisling (1948–49) Yosef (1949–50) Lavon (1950–51) Eshkol (1951–52) Naftali (1952–55) Luz (1955–59) Dayan (1959–64) Gvati (1964–74) Uzan (1974–77) Sharon (1977–81) Erlich (1981–83) Begin (1983) Grupper (1983–84) Nehemkin (1984–88) Katz-Oz (1988–90) Eitan (1990–91) Tzur (1992–96) Eitan (1996–99) Oron (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Simhon (2001–02) Livni (2002–03) Katz (2003–06) Boim (2006) Simhon (2006–11) Noked (2011–)

v t e Defense Ministers of Israel Ben-Gurion (1948–54) Lavon (1954–55) Ben-Gurion (1955–63) Eshkol (1963–67) Dayan (1967–74) Peres (1974–77) Weizman (1977–80) Begin (1980–81) Sharon (1981–83) Arens (1983–84) Rabin (1984–90) Shamir (1990) Arens (1990–92) Rabin (1992–95) Peres (1995–96) Mordechai (1996–99) Arens (1999) Barak (1999–2001) Ben-Eliezer (2001–02) Mofaz (2002–06) Peretz (2006–07) Barak (2007–)

v t e Education Ministers of Israel Shazar (1949–50) Remez (1950–51) Ben-Gurion (1951) Dinur (1951–55) Aran (1955–60) Eban (1960–63) Aran (1963–69) Allon (1969–74) Yadlin (1974–77) Hammer (1977–84) Navon (1984–90) Hammer (1990–92) Aloni (1992–93) Rabin (1993) Rubinstein (1993–96) Hammer (1996–98) Levy (1998–99) Sarid (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Livnat (2001–06) Sheetrit (2006) Tamir (2006–09) Sa'ar (2009–)

v t e Foreign Affairs Ministers of Israel Sharett (1948–56) Meir (1956–66) Eban (1966–74) Allon (1974–77) Dayan (1977–79) Shamir (1980–86) Peres (1986–88) Arens (1988–90) Levy (1990–92) Peres (1992–95) Barak (1995–96) Levy (1996–98) Sharon (1998–99) Levy (1999–2000) Ben-Ami (2000–01) Peres (2001–02) Netanyahu (2002–03) Shalom (2003–06) Livni (2006–09) Lieberman (2009–)

v t e Immigrant Absorption Ministers of Israel Shapira (1948–51) Allon (1968–69) Peres (1969–70) Peled (1970–74) Rosen (1974–77) Levy (1977–81) Abuhatzira (1981–82) Uzan (1982–84) Tzur (1984–88) Peretz (1988–92) Tzaban (1992–96) Edelstein (1996–99) Barak (1999) Tamir (1999–2001) Sharon (2001–03) Livni (2003–06) Boim (2006–07) Edri (2007–08) Aflalo (2008–09) Landver (2009–)

v t e Industry, Trade and Labour Ministers of Israel Bernstein (1948–49) Kaplan (1949–50) Geri (1950–51) Yosef (1951–52) Bernstein (1952–55) Naftali (1955) Sapir (1955–65) Zadok (1965–66) Sherf (1966–69) Sapir (1969–70) Sapir (1970–72) Bar-Lev (1972–77) Hurvitz (1977–78) Patt (1979–84) Sharon (1984–90) Nissim (1990–92) Harish (1992–96) Sharansky (1996–99) Cohen (1999–2000) Barak (2000–01) Itzik (2001–02) Sharon (2002–03) Olmert (2003–06) Yishai (2006–09) Ben-Eliezer (2009–11) Simhon (2011–)

v t e Internal Affairs Ministers of Israel Gruenbaum (1948–49) Shapira (1949–52) Rokach (1952–55) Shapira (1955) Bar-Yehuda (1955–59) Shapira (1959–70) Meir (1970) Burg (1970–74) Hillel (1974) Burg (1974–76) Hillel (1977) Burg (1977–84) Peres (1984) Peretz (1984–87) Shamir (1987–88) Deri (1988–93) Rabin (1993) Deri (1993) Rabin (1993–95) Baram (1995) Libai (1995) Barak (1995) Ramon (1995–96) Suissa (1996–99) Sharansky (1999–2000) Ramon (2000–01) Yishai (2001–02) Sharon (2002) Yishai (2002–03) Poraz (2003–04) Pines-Paz (2005) Sharon (2004–06) Bar-On (2006–07) Sheetrit (2007–09)) Yishai (from 2009)

v t e Science and Technology Ministers of Israel Ne'eman (1982–84) Patt (1984–88) Weizman (1988–90) Ne'eman (1990–92) Rubinstein (1992) Sheetrit (1992–93) Aloni (1993–96) Begin (1996–97) Netanyahu (1996–97) Eitan (1997–98) Shalom (1998–99) Barak (1999) Vilnai (1999–2001) Sandberg (2003–04) Shalgi (2004) Brailovsky (2004) Vilnai (2005) Bar-On (2006) Pines-Paz (2006) Majadele (2007–09) Hershkowitz (2009–)

v t e Tourism Ministers of Israel Govrin (1964–66) Kol (1966–77) Patt (1981) Sharir (1981–88) Patt (1988–92) Baram (1992–96) Katsav (1996–99) Barak (1999) Lipkin-Shahak (1999–2001) Ze'evi (2001) Elon (2001–02) Levy (2002–03) Elon (2003–04) Ezra (2004–05) Hirschson (2005–06) Herzog (2006–07) Aharonovich (2007–08) Avraham (2008–09) Misezhnikov (2009–)

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider modifying the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article. (discuss). (October 2010)

Maury Povich
Maury Povich, October 11, 2006
Born	Maurice Richard Povich (1939-01-17) January 17, 1939 (age 73) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Talk show host
Years active	1962–present
Spouse	Phyllis Minkoff (m. 1962–1979) «start: (1962)–end+1: (1980)»"Marriage: Phyllis Minkoff to Maury Povich" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Maury_Povich) Connie Chung (m. 1984) «start: (1984)»"Marriage: Connie Chung to Maury Povich" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Maury_Povich)
Website
www.mauryshow.com

Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American television talk show host of the tabloid talk show Maury.

Personal background[link]

Povich was born to Jewish family in Washington, D.C., the son of Ethyl (née Friedman) and Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich, and was the second of three children.^[1] His paternal grandfather, Nathan Povich, immigrated from Lithuania to the United States in 1878; Nathan was 12 at the time.^[2][3] Maury Povich graduated from the Landon School in 1957^[4] and the University of Pennsylvania in 1962 with a degree in television journalism. From 1962 to 1979, Povich was married to Phyllis Minkoff. Povich later married news anchor Connie Chung in 1984, whom he met while working in the news department at WTTG-TV in Washington.^[5] With Minkoff, Povich had two daughters, Susan and Amy; in 1995, Povich and Chung adopted a son, Matthew Jay Povich.^[6][7]

Career[link]

Television news anchor duties (1962–1983)[link]

Not long after graduation, Povich got his first job on Washington, D.C., radio station WWDC, where he did publicity and worked as a reporter.^[8] By 1966, Povich became a news reporter and sportscaster for DC television station WTTG-TV. In 1967, he became the original co-host of the station's popular midday talk show, Panorama,^[6] which brought the rising star widespread acclaim and national recognition.^[9] From 1977 to 1983, he worked as a news anchor at stations in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. He finally returned to Washington, D.C., in June 1983.

[edit] A Current Affair (1986–1990)

When media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquired the Metromedia TV station group in 1986, one of his first moves was to bring Povich to New York to host A Current Affair. The show began in late July 1986, and while it was considered a tabloid infotainment show that often focused on celebrity gossip, it also made time for compelling human interest stories. Critics praised the show for trying to be both informative and entertaining, much like "a good afternoon newspaper."^[10] Povich hosted Affair until 1990.^[6] He also anchored newscasts at WNYW.

[edit] The Maury Povich Show (1991–1998), Maury (1998–present)

Povich served two consecutive terms as president of the New York Chapter of the National Television Academy.^[11] In September 1991, he left A Current Affair to host The Maury Povich Show, which was nationally syndicated and distributed by Paramount Television in partnership with Povich's production company "MoPo Productions" and in national syndication from 1991 to 1998.^[6]

For raising awareness of National Adoption Month, Povich was honored by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995. In 1998, the show was taken over by Studios USA (then a division of USA Networks, later renamed Universal Television after being sold to Vivendi Universal; and NBC Universal Television after VU Entertainment was sold to NBC owner General Electric). When they took over the show's production, they renamed it Maury. The show often veered into what critics called trash TV, and in 1998, it became known for a segment called "Who's the Daddy?" during which men who were denying paternity (or who wanted to know if they really were the father) were given 40 DNA tests and the results were revealed on the air.^[6]

[edit] Twenty One and Weekends with Maury and Connie

On January 9, 2000, Povich hosted the short-lived primetime revival of the classic game show, Twenty One on NBC. Reruns of the show have been aired on GSN.

In November 2005, MSNBC announced Povich would co-host a weekend news program with his wife, Connie Chung. The program—titled Weekends with Maury and Connie—debuted on January 7, 2006, but was cancelled due to low ratings. The final episode aired on June 17, 2006.^[12]

He appeared as himself in the fourth episode of the sixth season of the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." He is portrayed as a New Yorker who is apparently seen everywhere in the city. He also appeared as himself in the film Madea's Big Happy Family.

In May 2007, Povich launched the Flathead Beacon, a weekly print newspaper and online news source in Montana's Flathead County, where Povich has a home and is a member at the Eagle Bend Golf Club.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maury Povich

• Maury Show Website
• Maury Povich at the Internet Movie Database
• Maury's Blooper comments
• NNDB