Susan Howarth died Wednesday at the age of 66 after battling cancer. Howarth was the fifth president and CEO of WEDU, Tampa Bay’s PBS station.
Howarth focused on community outreach by connecting with all 16 counties that WEDU serves. Through her local involvement, she guided the expansion of the station by providing various community film screenings and panel discussions, touching on topics including youth homelessness, veterans’ issues, and race relations.
In addition to her passion for community outreach, she collaborated with other Florida public television and radio stations to restore necessary funding that was eliminated from the state budget in 2011.
As a 45-year veteran of public broadcasting, she served the last eight years as President and CEO of WEDU PBS.
Howarth guided WEDU through the recent addition of two new channels, which helped WEDU become one of the first public broadcasting stations in the nation to have six channels of programming in its coverage area.
“Susan and I worked quite closely together in her first few years in Tampa and her strong commitment to securing a strong future for WEDU was always paramount,” said JoAnn Urofsky, General Manager and Associate Vice President of WUSF Public Media.
“She was well-respected by her PBS colleagues across the country and I know they are grieving her passing, along with her staff and the community here. Our thoughts go out to them and to Susan’s family and friends.”
Read more about Susan Howarth here.
