Longtime local television personality Jack Hanson has died following a long illness. He was 91.

Hanson, a third generation San Franciscan, started his broadcast career in the KPIX mailroom after graduating from California State University at San Francisco and serving in the U.S. Air Force. 

Throughout his more than 50-year career, Jack worked at KRON, KPIX, KTVU, KGO-TV and the Cable Health Network.

Bay Area television personality Jack Hanson in an undated promotional photo. Hanson, a third generation San Franciscan, who started his broadcast career in the KPIX mailroom after graduating from San Francisco State University and serving in the U.S. Air Force has died following a long illness at 91. (Hanson Family via Bay City News)

“Jack was a gracious, beautiful, and charming human being. Beyond his accomplished career in television which spanned over five decades, he was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He will be dearly missed,” his family wrote in a statement.

He also hosted Comcast Newsmakers, a news interview show on CNN Headline News, according to a statement posted on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences SF chapter website when Hanson was inducted into the organization’s Gold Circle.

One of Hanson’s popular shows was called “Jack’s Place,” which aired on KPIX in the mid-1960s and featured interviews with local celebrities and Hanson doing drawings.

Hanson worked in television, movies, commercials, industrial productions and hosted award shows and served as emcee for many charity events, according to the statement on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences SF chapter website.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, former professional tennis player Pauline Hanson, eight children and nine grandchildren.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.