- Served as a combat photographer with the First Infantry Division of the United States Army in Vietnam; awarded the Bronze Star.
- Father, with Jody Geist, of son Willie Geist and daughter Libby Geist.
- Father-in-law of Kevin Wildes and Christina Geist.
- Grandfather of George Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.
- Attended and graduated from Champaign Central High School in Champaign, Illinois.
- Received his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign (1968).
- Received his Master of Arts degree in communications from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri (1971).
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6850 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 15, 2011.
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