Dr. Frank Field
NBC/Getty
Frank Field, a longtime meteorologist and health reporter at NBC’s New York station WNBC-TV, has died. He was 100.
Field died Saturday in Florida, according to WNBC, where he spent 25 years of his career.
Field attended Brown University and MIT, where he learned meteorology, and later served as an Army Air Force meteorology officer in the European theater during World War II.
Additionally, he earned a degree in geology at Brooklyn College, a bachelor’s degree in optometry at Columbia University and a doctorate on the faculty of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Field began his meteorology career at WNBC in 1958. There, he gained national attention when, according to WNBC, “Johnny Carson decided needling ‘NBC’s crack meteorologist’ would be good fun and he became a regular guest on The Tonight Show. Field matched wits with the popular comedian, somehow managing to maintain his dignity and air of authority.”
Field also had fun taking jabs back at Carson during his 11 p.m. news broadcast, including skewering a cut-out figure of the host with his prop pointer during his weather report.
“He may have given NBC management ulcers, but the viewers loved it,” WNBC noted. (Watch some of his Tonight Show appearances at the end of this story.)
At WNBC, Field also put his medical background to use, adding health and science reporting to his duties. In 1983, he garnered attention by covering an entire kidney transplant live — “from first incision to final suture” — during a news broadcast.
Additionally, Field is credited with publicizing the Heimlich maneuver before it was widely embraced by the medical community.
According to The New York Times, Field was once dining with a friend, CBS sportscaster Warner Wolf, when a piece of meat became stuck in his throat. Wolf saved Field by using the Heimlich maneuver after having seen Field demonstrate it on TV.
After leaving WNBC, Field joined rival New York station WCBS and ended his television career at WWOR in 2004.
Al Roker, longtime meteorologist at NBC’s Today, posted a tribute to Field on Instagram, crediting him for being an influence in his career.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Field family who lost their legendary dad, Dr. Frank Field,” Roker wrote. “He was at WNBC when I started doing weekend weather, teaching me the ropes and the lay of the land. Gone at 100, I hope he and Willard are sharing a weather map, a laugh and some bourbon,” he added, referring to Willard Scott, the longtime NBC meteorologist who died in 2021.
He spent his post-TV career campaigning for fire safety.
Field’s wife, Joan Kaplan Field, died this year. The couple, married for 75 years, had three children: son Storm and daughters Allison and Pamela. Storm and Allison followed in their father’s footsteps, becoming TV meteorologists themselves. Survivors also include seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
