Lester M. Crystal, who after 20 years at NBC News, including two as its president, moved to “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” on PBS and immediately set about transforming it from a half-hour program into “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” a broadcast widely acclaimed for its breath and depth, died on June 24 in Manhattan. He was 85.

Mr. Crystal, a long-time resident of Scarsdale, NY, served as executive producer of “NewsHour” for 22 years, helping to establish the program as a distinctive voice in broadcast journalism. “NewsHour” took an in-depth approach to the news that the half-hour news programs of commercial television could not.

World leaders, presidential candidates, and other newsmakers were interviewed at length as the broadcast examined issues in segments that had more in common with a newsmagazine than with other TV news programs, thereby “gaining influence in the corridors of power,” The New York Times said.

“Les’s voice was the one you wanted to break into your ear during a news-making interview or on an election night, providing a crucial fact or giving you the breaking news you needed to get on the air right away,” said Judy Woodruff, who co-anchored the program with Robin MacNeil when Jim Lehrer suffered a heart attack. He was “authoritative, calm and brief,” she said, and a stickler for facts. “You were OK if Les said it.”

[Editor’s note: Lester Crystal and his wife, Toby, were our friends for many years. My best memory of Les is that he could tell a good joke as well as he could distill the news. Rest in peace, my friend. SMB]