Longtime Milwaukee TV anchor and 'Contact 6' newsman Tom Hooper dies

Over the course of a 35-year career in local news, most of it as the "Contact 6" consumer watchdog, Tom Hooper's name became synonymous with the journalism principles of comforting the afflicted and giving voice to the voiceless.

Hooper died Friday night in Georgia. He was 85.

Hooper's gentle Tennessee twang became familiar in thousands of Milwaukee households as he helped viewers who’d been ripped off or mistreated.

“I wanted to be a star, an anchor,” Hooper told The Journal Sentinel’s television critic Duane Dudek in 2010. “I never heard of this ‘Contact 6’ thing. But it took off like wildfire.”

Hooper said that soon after the segment began, the station was receiving as many as 1,500 letters a week with viewers requesting help with various problems. The reporter tried to solve one on each 10 p.m. newscast, but he sent numerous others to the businesses involved asking that they respond to viewers themselves.

It was a simple idea, but Hooper’s reports changed Wisconsin, leading to changes in laws dealing with the monitoring of abused children, school bus safety and testing for real estate licenses.

Perhaps the most well-remembered segment changed only a single life. The foster parents of a blind and disabled child wrote to Hooper seeking a stroller. The girl also suffered from a large facial growth. After Hooper’s report aired, a surgeon volunteered to remove the growth.

Katrina Cravy took over "Contact 6" in July 1999 when Hooper retired. Cravy had worked at the station for only six months when she learned she was replacing a legend.

"People would say, 'You've got big shoes to fill.' I would say, 'They're not shoes, they're fishing waders,' " said Cravy.

Hooper's advice to Cravy was to take the job seriously but not to take herself seriously. And as evidence of that mantra, he showed her a letter sent to him at the station on his last day. The writer screwed up Hooper's name and addressed the letter to "Don Whopper."

When Hooper was awarded a Wisconsin Silver Circle Award in 2010 by the Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Cravy helped put together a story honoring him. She reviewed hours of footage of Hooper and was amazed to see a clip of a man accused of stabbing someone.

"He turned himself in to Tom live on camera. Tom said, 'Why didn't you turn yourself in to police?' And the man said, 'I don't know them, I know you,' " Cravy remembered. "That was the familiarity this town had with him. When you were in trouble, you turned yourself in to Tom."

Jill Geisler, a former WITI-TV news director, told Dudek, “I have this memory of not being able to go anywhere with Tom where there wasn’t someone who would come up to him. He was the attorney for people who couldn’t afford one.

“One time, we were coming back from the south side ... and we had car trouble. And we pull into a gas station. He gets out of the car. And people came at him from all directions saying, ‘Tom Hooper needs our help.’ ”

Hooper's daughter-in-law Cheri Hooper said he developed deep friendships in Milwaukee through his work and involvement with such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon. Those included the late Mike Neufeldt, who served as the MDA national ambassador in 1987-'88.

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Cheri Hooper said he often reminisced about his life and work in Milwaukee and the many friends he made there.

"All he did as a news anchor, especially everyone he helped, it was always very important to him," she said. "That's something we are extremely proud of and will always hang on to."

Born in Nashville, Hooper earned a bachelor's degree at Murray State University in Kentucky. He served two years in Germany in the Army and then earned a master's degree in communications at Northwestern University.

In 1958 he moved to Madison to anchor the 6 and 10 p.m. news at WKOW-TV (Channel 27) and six years later moved to Milwaukee when what was then known as WITI-TV (Channel 6) hired him as a staff announcer. For seven years, he handled reporting and anchor duties before pioneering the problem-solving segment "Contact 6."

Hooper retired from the station in 1999, after which he did voiceovers for Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin.

He and his wife, Peggy, lived for many years in Florida before moving two and a half years ago to Georgia to be closer to family, Cheri Hooper said.

Hooper is survived by his wife, Peggy; sons Scott (Cheri) and Jay (Lori); grandchildren Matthew, Dylan and Jodi; brother Jerry Hooper; and many friends. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.