Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of PBS and NBC News, died today at his Westport home. He was 86.

Lawrence Grossman outside his Brookside Drive home in 2008. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
His granddaughter Rebecca Grossman-Cohen said he had Parkinson’s disease and oral cancer, according to The New York Times.
The former advertising executive was forced out of NBC in 1988, four years after he was hired, after he resisted budget cuts ordered by then corporate parent GE.
In Westport, he later appeared periodically on panel discussions and spoke to local groups on media issues.
When Tim Russert died suddenly in 2008, Grossman came under media attention in Westport as the man who hired the “Meet the Press” moderator. (See WestportNow June 13, 2008)