Dick Clark

Dick Clark was an American radio and television personality who departed this life at the age of 82 of a heart attack following surgery to fix an enlarged prostate. He had Type 2 diabetes and also suffered a stroke in 2004. He was best known for hosting American Bandstand for thirty years from 1957 to 1987. As a game show host, he starred in "Pyramid" and was famous for hosting "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," which transmitted Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations. Born 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York, he studied advertising and radio at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York from 1948 to 1951. He took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL, adopting the Dick Clark handle. His show, renamed "American Bandstand," debuted nationally on August 5, 1957. He first produced "New Year's Rockin' Eve," a New Year's Eve music special for NBC. In 1973, Clark became the first host of "The $10,000 Pyramid." He created The Dick Clark National Music Survey for the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1981.