For more than three decades, he was among the most respected reporters and anchors in Buffalo radio. Mark Leitner died Monday in Florida following a lengthy illness at the age of 80.
Leitner began his radio career in 1975 at WIZR AM in Johnstown, New York, about 255 miles east of Buffalo. He later moved to Buffalo and worked for 23 years at WBEN AM. It was there, in 1979, he met a young college intern named Brian Meyer, who would later go on to his own storied career, which also included positions at the Buffalo News and WBFO.
“I had just started the internship, and he had just been hired by WBEN,” Meyer recalled. “I remember this gentleman, with these crazy sunglasses, walking into the newsroom and thinking, who is that? I had never seen him before in the few weeks I was there.”
It turns out, that man in the crazy sunglasses would become a friend and mentor.
“He was enormously encouraging, supportive, filled with wisdom and just made an impression on me that summer,” Meyer added. “And then, when WBEN decided to give this green, inexperienced person who sounded like he was 12 years old a shot, Mark was one of my biggest newsroom supporters.”
Leitner left WBEN in 2002 and briefly worked as a teacher. He returned to radio in 2003, in public broadcasting with the former WNED 970 AM. He stayed with the company, Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, as it acquired WBFO from the University at Buffalo in 2012. Leitner worked with WBFO until June of that year, when he retired and moved to Florida.
Leitner had an often-mischievous sense of humor and was known for newsroom pranks. His humor could also shift to make himself the butt of the joke. But when it came time for business, Leitner was all business.
“That was the unique thing about Mark, because he could be doing practical jokes at 11:15 a.m. and making everyone just laugh up gloriously. But then by 11:30 he'd be on that phone. He'd be at the top of his game,” Meyer said. “He'd know every question that he needed to ask, he would probe for the answers and would churn out amazing journalism day after day after day after day.”
When other reporters making police check calls would be advised that it was all quiet, Leitner could pick up the phone a short while later, speak to the same police contacts, and get numerous leads, tips, and pieces of information others couldn’t. That’s how respected he was.
But yet Leitner made plenty of time to be a loving, and beloved husband and father. He is survived by his love of 56 years, his wife Suzanne, and by his daughters Catherine and Emily, and a granddaughter.
A memorial service will be planned at a later date.
