Brandon Stoddard ’50 passed away in late December at his home in Bel-Air.

Brandon was the former President of ABC Entertainment and of ABC’s first in-house production company. Known as the “father of the miniseries,” in his time at ABC Brandon oversaw the production of Roots, The Winds of War and The Thorn Birds.

At the ceremony for his induction into the Television Hall of Fame last March Brandon described the challenges of producing shows that were controversial in their time. In 1977, most of the network’s advertisers refused to sponsor Roots and yet Brandon and ABC held firm and the miniseries went on to receive 37 Emmy Award nominations.

After Unquowa, Brandon attended Deerfield Academy and then Yale University. He worked briefly in advertising before starting his career at ABC.

Along with some of his siblings and cousins, including Mary Jo Stoddard Johnson ’49, Anne Stoddard Patterson ’45, Fredrica Stoddard Smith ’49, Stuart Stoddard ’51 and Cecily Stoddard Stranahan ’47, Brandon was part of one of Unquowa’s founding families. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.