James Charles Lehrer ( LAIR-ə; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the PBS News Hour on PBS and was known for his role as a debate moderator during U.S. presidential election campaigns, moderating 12 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. Lehrer also wrote numerous fiction and non-fiction books that drew upon his experience as a newsman, along with his interests in history and politics.
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Early life and education
Lehrer was born on May 19, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas. His mother, Lois Catherine Lehrer (née Chapman), was a teacher and bank clerk, and his father, Harry Frederick Lehrer, was a bus station manager. Lehrer's paternal grandparents were German immigrants. His maternal grandfather was J. B. Chapman, a prominent Church of the Nazarene figure. Lehrer had an older brother, Fred, who was a Baptist minister. He attended school in Wichita, middle school in Beaumont, Texas, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, where he was a sports editor for the Jefferson Declaration. Lehrer graduated with an associate degree from Victoria College, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in 1956.
