From Chicago Tribune:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-donald-meier-obituary-20190731-qtb5epqdffg4rpok2oijijr2iu-story.html

Donald Meier was a Chicago-based television writer, producer and director who with host and zoologist Marlin Perkins created the long-running and popular national nature documentary series “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” which was a prime-time staple from the 1960s through the 1980s.

“He liked everything about (TV production),” said his nephew, Bob Bennett. “He liked the excitement, the people — it was a whirlwind. He just thought it was the greatest experience.”

Meier, 104, died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 2019 at his Winnetka home, Bennett said.

Born in tiny Pulaski, Iowa, Meier graduated from Garden County High School in Nebraska. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, speech and theater from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1941.

While in college, Meier became interested in broadcasting and took all the radio courses the university offered at the time. After college, Meier served in the Army during World War II, including serving for a year at the Pentagon. While in the Army, he rose to the level of lieutenant colonel.

Meier then moved to Chicago and took a job with Chicago television station WBKB, which was the first incarnation of what later would become WBBM-Ch. 2. Meier worked his way up at WBKB and by the 1950s was working for NBC-owned WNBQ-TV — now WMAQ-Ch. 5 — directing programs.

Among the programs Meier directed from the studios of Chicago’s NBC affiliate were the short-lived Friday night variety show “The Dave Garroway Show,” which aired from the fall of 1953 until mid-1954, “Quiz Kids” and “Watch Mr. Wizard.”

In 1949, Meier helped create the show “Zoo Parade,” which was hosted by Perkins, then the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo. Meier was the producer and director of “Zoo Parade,” which aired Sunday afternoons on WNBQ, and then, starting in 1950, began being shown on NBC stations in other cities as well. For the most part, “Zoo Parade” simply featured zoo animals in a TV studio.

“Zoo Parade” was canceled in 1957. Perkins and Meier began planning their next venture, leading to “Wild Kingdom.” Meier, who from the start had resolved to see “Wild Kingdom” filmed in color, also left WNBQ and started his own company, Don Meier Productions, to produce their new show.

“Wild Kingdom,” which debuted in January 1963, aired Sunday afternoons — and later on, Sunday nights — on NBC stations. It was mostly filmed in Chicago, although Perkins by that point had become the St. Louis Zoo’s director. Although “Wild Kingdom” started out also having animals in the studio, the program also featured from the outset films of safaris that Perkins and Meier took throughout the world.

The result, Tribune TV critic Larry Wolters wrote in 1965, was a popular, family-friendly animal program that “deftly blends education, entertainment and illumination in a half hour package.” Wolters also noted that as producer, Meier demanded all material be zoologically accurate.

“For an average show we’ll use 20,000 feet of film and end up showing only 780 feet in the final program,” Meier told the Tribune’s Neil Shister in 1978. “The excitement comes from the editing and writing. We don’t fake anything.”

In 1974, “Wild Kingdom” went into independent syndication, eventually appearing on more than 200 U.S. TV stations. During “Wild Kingdom’s” entire run, more than 300 episodes were made, all produced by Meier, with filming taking place in some 47 countries.

Weekly production of “Wild Kingdom” ended in 1987, although Meier stuck around to complete three final shows in the 1987-88 TV season.

After “Wild Kingdom” ended, Meier kept busy managing the business side of his company, his nephew said. In 2002, he sold the rights for the “Wild Kingdom” concept to Mutual of Omaha, which had been the sponsor of the show for its entire quarter-century run.

In 1995, Meier was inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Chicago/Midwest chapter.

Meier in 1993 established a scholarship to benefit a freshman broadcasting major at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and he also endowed scholarships in the university’s colleges of law and business. Meier himself received an honorary doctor of law degree from the university in 1968.

In recognition of Meier and his wife’s contributions, the university in 2008 dedicated a new student commons area that is named after the couple.

Meier’s wife of 68 years, Lorie, died in June 2018 at age 100.