One final signoff for old-school newsman
Hynes’ funeral services on Cape Cod slated for today
John “Jack” Hynes Jr., the broadcast hall-of-famer known as “The Dean of Boston TV News,” will be laid to rest today on his beloved Cape Cod.
Funeral services for Hynes, 88, will be held this morning at Holy Redeemer Church in Chatham, the seaside town where he and his late wife, Marie Hynes, a former Breck Shampoo model, enjoyed their down time and raised their four children.
The great-grandfather and son of former Mayor John B. Hynes died last Tuesday after a long illness.
Rank-and-file newsmen lined up for hours on Seaport Boulevard in South Boston yesterday to pay their respects to Hynes at his wake at the new Our Lady of Good Voyage Shrine.
“He helped us all understand how important truth is and how important it is to be on the level with your audience and make sure that they understand exactly what’s going on and how it affects them,” said Terrel Harris, Hynes’ former fellow reporter at Channel 56. “Based on what I see, it’s hard to come by anymore. Everyone is into sensationalism. And that’s really not journalism for those of us in, what I call, the old school.”
Former news videographer Brian Sullivan said Hynes “brought a serious, no-nonsense” approach to his field that Sullivan, smiling, likened to “the old Joe Friday from the TV show (‘Dragnet’). You know, just the facts, ma’am. That’s the way he was and he wouldn’t stand for anything else.”
Hynes’ 50 years in broadcast journalism made him the face of WHDH (Channel 7) when it was a CBS affiliate in the late 1950s, WCVB (Channel 5) and WLVI (Channel 56), from where he retired in 2006.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said yesterday, “I remember him on TV. He’s an icon, a legend.
“Younger people don’t remember him, but I remember Jack Hynes as part of Channel 5 with Chet (Curtis) and Natalie (Jacobson), Dick Albert and all those folks,” Walsh said. “Don Kent from (WBZ) Channel 4 was another one. These people were part of, not your family, but they were part of your life because, in my opinion, back then they were such big figures on TV. They were stars in some ways.
“He did a lot of great things in his life and he’ll be missed,” Walsh said, “but he had a good long life.”
In addition to running six Boston Marathons, Hynes was a 2008 inductee to the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, which said of the anchorman, “He set the standard for accuracy and credibility.”