Sy Becker, a longtime on-air presence with WWLP-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts, has died. He was 86.
According to an obituary, Becker died Saturday, after what the television station termed a brief illness.
Becker had been at Channel 22 for more than four decades, starting in 1979 and continuing until this past spring, when he retired.
He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y in 1936 and attended City College of New York.
Before going into television, he spent many years working in radio, including a 14-year run at WSPR in Springfield, where he was the news director. Overall, he spent 60 years in broadcasting.
Becker was a news reporter on television but might be best remembered for also delivering movie reviews, which were punctuated with his enthusiastic closing line, "This is Sy Becker, with another look at the movies!” The station said by his count, Becker saw more than 9,000 movies.
Springfield U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, in a statement said he knew Becker going back to his radio days, calling him a "superb newsman in every sense of the word" who "earned the respect of countless public figures throughout his career."
And Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno remembered Becker as a boxing aficionado and said Becker's "institutional and historic knowledge and boundless energy were unquestioned and deeply appreciated."
In a story on its website, WWLP also pointed to Becker’s community service. In 2009 during a toy drive, he issued “Becker’s Bike Challenge,” where he encouraged viewers to donate bicycles for children in need during the holidays. The station said the response was so great, their studio was overflowing with bikes.
Becker is survived by a son and a daughter. Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday in East Longmeadow.
