While earning a bachelor’s degree from Boston University’s School of Public Relations and Communications, Eugene Waldstein was the assistant program director of the college’s radio station. His road to a career in broadcasting continued when he was drafted into the Army. He served for two years in Niigata, Japan, as a staff announcer with the Far East Network of the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Shortly before shipping out, on May 11, 1954, he married Deborah Ruth Lewis, his high school sweetheart, at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. She later sailed to meet him in Japan, where they lived for the first year of their marriage.
The couple moved to New York City in 1956, when Mr. Waldstein was hired as a page at NBC. He worked for the network until his retirement in 1993, having risen to stage manager and director. After four years in Forest Hills, Queens, the couple moved to Verona, N.J.
Mr. Waldstein, who had a house on Maple Lane in East Hampton, died on Sept. 13 of acute myelomic leukemia. He was 91.
Eugene Gordon Waldstein was born in Boston on July 5, 1931, to Julius and Rebecca Waldstein. After their mother died of cancer at 41, Mr. Waldstein and his sister Miriam were raised in Boston by their uncle and aunt, Saul and Gertrude Pearlman.
After serving as a page at NBC, he worked as a production assistant for the network’s local station, WNBC, then as a stage manager for “The Shari Lewis Show” and other local programs. After promotion to the national network, he was a stage manager on “The Price Is Right,” then hosted by Bill Cullen, and “The Jack Paar Show.” Many other variety shows, game shows, and news and sports events followed.
During the 1970s he was stage manager for the children’s series “Go Show,” and he directed “Eye Guess,” another game show hosted by Cullen. His longest tenure at NBC was as associate director for “News 4 New York,” which was hosted by Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons.
The Waldsteins bought a summer cottage in Amagansett in 1970. Ten years later they moved to East Hampton. They were members and volunteers at Guild Hall, where he enjoyed hanging artwork for the Clothesline Art sale, his family said. They also belonged to the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society and met weekly with a group to clear hiking trails.
In 2003, after Ms. Waldstein retired from teaching math at Verona High School, the couple became full-time residents of East Hampton. For two decades they were active members of the Center for Creative Retirement, a lifelong-learning program based first in Southampton and subsequently in Riverhead.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by their two children, Mark Waldstein of Seattle and Rachel Waldstein Kagy of Arlington, Va. His sisters, Miriam Wesson of New York City and Hope Quallo of Pittsford, N.Y., also survive, as does a grandson, Alex Kagy.
Mr. Waldstein was buried at the Independent Jewish Cemetery of Sag Harbor on Sept. 18. The family has suggested donations to the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, P.O. Box 2144, Amagansett 11930.
