Jack Hanson, Bay Area TV news personality, dies at 91

Jack Hanson, a longtime Bay Area reporter and TV personality, died at 91 after a long illness, ABC7 reported on Monday. 

Over the course of Hanson’s lengthy career in local media, his warm curiosity, dry wit and affable charm found him work as a weatherman, talk show host, interviewer and reporter. He even worked as a cartoonist, occasionally incorporating cartoons into his weather reports — he’s famous for doodling a shivering dog on the coldest spot on the map — and sketching guests while interviewing them. 

“Jack was a gracious, beautiful, and charming human being. Beyond his accomplished career in television which spanned over five decades, he was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He will be dearly missed,” his family wrote in a statement shared with ABC7. 

Hanson was a third-generation San Franciscan who grew up in Haight-Ashbury and attended San Francisco State University. He started out as a stage manager at KRON in 1957, and in the early 1960s he began filling in for other on-camera personalities, according to a YouTube post about his career highlights. 

That experience landed him a stint as a quiz show host on KTVU. Hanson parlayed that success into a talk show on KPIX, called “Jack’s Place.” Later on, he worked as KGO’s weather forecaster and co-hosted the station’s morning talk show, “A.M. San Francisco.” 

Bill’s Place, a neighborhood burger spot in the Richmond, even has a cheddar cheeseburger named after him. Though his name is spelled wrong (“Hansen,” the menu reads), he had the status to appear alongside other local luminaries like Jefferson Starship guitarist Paul Kantner and San Francisco columnist Herb Caen on the menu.

Over his career, Hanson interviewed figures of local and international renown, among them Suzanne Somers, Mr. Rogers, Sophia Loren, Ted Kennedy, Willie Mays, Dick Van Dyke and former president Gerald Ford.  

“He made everyone he interviewed feel as though they were fascinating to him, because they were. He took joy in learning people’s stories,” said family friend Maria Goodavage, according to Bay City News.

Hanson is survived by his eight children and his wife, Pauline.

Bay City News contributed to this report.