Q&A With Jeff Fager, Executive Producer of ‘60 Minutes’
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Photos courtesy of Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager has been the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” America’s most-watched news program, since 2004. In his years at CBS News – topped in 2011 when he was made the division’s first chairman – Fager has covered the news around the world at each level of his distinguished career.
As producer and then senior producer of the “CBS Evening News,” he reported on the 1984 presidential campaign; the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe; the Reagan-Gorbachev Summits; the bombing of Libya in 1986; the death of the Japanese emperor; conflicts in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan; the Palestinian Intifada in 1988; the Iraq-Iran War; the Persian Gulf War; the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin; and the War in Bosnia. Named the newscast’s executive producer in 1996, he refocused it on hard news and added more than a million new viewers.
Fager was born in Wellesley, Mass. He graduated from Colgate University in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in English. At 15 years old, he started spending his summers cleaning stalls and grooming horses for Tartan Farms in Florida and later in the same role for Tartan Stables at the New York racetracks.
Name: Jeff Fager
What I do for a living: Executive Producer of “60 Minutes”
How and when I was introduced to Thoroughbred racing: When my father saved John Nerud’s life when I was 10 years old
My favorite racetrack: Saratoga Race Course
My favorite Thoroughbred racing event: Saratoga
Other sports/teams I follow: New England Patriots
What I would like to see more of in Thoroughbred racing: Rules about medication
What I would like to see less of in Thoroughbred racing: medication
Three words that define what Thoroughbred racing means to me: Escape, excitement, beautiful animals
First Thoroughbred track I ever attended was: Rockingham Park in New Hampshire
Favorite all-time Thoroughbred: Dr. Fager
My personal best moment in the sport of Thoroughbred racing: Watching Dr. Fager run
Best racetrack food can be found at: Saratoga Race Course
My favorite trainer: John Nerud
My hero: My father, Dr. Charles Fager
Favorite quote or motto: “Character is destiny.”
Favorite animal other than a horse: Dog
Favorite non-Thoroughbred racing sports event I have attended: The Masters, [Derek] Jeter’s final game
Favorite food: Wild, striped bass
Favorite vacation spot: Chappaquiddick Island, catching wild, striped bass
Favorite city: New York City
Favorite musician/band: Wynton Marsalis
Favorite all-time movie(s): “Gladiator”
Favorite TV show: “60 Minutes”
What I drive: BMW M4
Favorite movie about horse racing: “Black Stallion”
Alma Mater: Colgate
Best Book I recently read: “All the Light We Cannot See.”
Favorite Memento: Andy Rooney’s typewriter
What I like about my job: Storytelling