Robert F. Lewine; Emmy Winner Led TV Academy

Robert F. Lewine, the first full-time president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and an Emmy-winning network television programmer, has died. He was 80.

Lewine died Monday in Los Angeles of a respiratory condition.

He served as president of the academy, which awards Emmys for excellence in television, from 1961 through 1963, and in 1970 became the first full-time, paid president. He served in the position through 1976.

During his tenure, the academy began publishing its TV Quarterly, inaugurated its local station awards and international awards, and established a special academy library at UCLA.

Last year the academy awarded Lewine its Syd Cassyd Founder’s Award, an Emmy statuette, for his service to the organization.

Lewine, who founded the New York chapter in 1955, had worked for the academy on both coasts.

He served as a vice president of programming at ABC, CBS and NBC, and was also vice president for television for Warner Bros. and an executive vice president at Creative Management Associates, a talent agency.

Slender and elegant in appearance, Lewine had a reputation as a caring leader.

“Dare to be different,” he once advised a new aide. “Consider your writer an indispensable ingredient in any program; go for the finest available creative talent because this is the best insurance against failure; take your time if possible in developing the idea; don’t talk down to your audience; make your stories and characters believable, and resign yourself to the realities of television programming--you can’t hit a home run every time at bat.”

Lewine was a trustee of Columbia College and served on the advisory council of the Population Institute in Washington.

He is survived by his wife, Lucille, and son, Rob.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa.

There will be no funeral service, but the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will host a memorial reception today at 2 p.m. in the Academy Plaza Theatre, 5230 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.