University of Oregon alumnus and former journalism associate professor Lyle Nelson died Sept. 5 of heart failure at his Stanford home. He was 79.

Although he served as acting director of the UO news service and did a stint as editor of UO alumni publications, the retired Stanford University professor and administrator was best known as the force behind the Knight fellowship program for journalists. An educational television expert, he also established the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service.

Nelson launched the academic study fellowship program in 1966 with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation. Since then, working journalists from the United States and around the world have been selected from pools of applicants to pursue independent study and take part in seminars.

"Hundreds of journalists from around the world are indebted to him," said James Risser, now director of the Knight program. At least 600 journalists have benefitted from the fellowship, the West Coast counterpart to the Nieman fellowships.

Nelson was born Feb. 28, 1918, in Yamhill, Ore. He attended the University of Oregon, editing the Daily Emerald and paying his way through school by writing stories about the Wild West. He graduated in 1941 and went to work editing publications aimed at UO alumni. He also worked as a reporter for the Oregon Journal in Portland and directed UO's news service.

He worked in Washington, D.C., during World War II as a technical editor for the U.S. Army Ordinance Department. Nelson also served as an information specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation. He returned to Eugene to become an associate journalism professor. He also was an assistant to UO President Harry Newburn. During the McCarthy era of fear of communists in America, Nelson helped fend off an Oregon House of Representatives plan to demand "loyalty oaths" at public universities. The effort earned him a distinguished service award from the American College Public Relations Association in 1953. Nelson established the National Educational Television and Radio Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. -- which later became the Public Broadcasting Service.

Nelson worked at San Francisco State College from 1955 to 1957. He served as vice president of university relations at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before becoming director of public relations at Stanford University in 1961. Nelson set up what was then called Stanford's Professional Journalism Fellowship in1966. Three years later, he was able to expand the program with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He served as director of the program from 1969 to 1985, a year before he retired. He was chairman of Stanford's communication department from 1972 to 1979.

His influence was even more widespread. Nelson served as executive director of the White House Conference on Education in 1965. He also chaired the National Board of Foreign Scholarships, which operates the Fulbright program. And he supported honest reporting at universities. He helped raise money to protest a police raid on The Stanford Daily's offices during the Vietnam War.

The university paper took its fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But after losing the battle, the Daily watched as dozens of similar raids were carried out all over the country. He went on to raise tens of millions of dollars for Stanford and its communications department, where he held the Thomas M. Storke professorship.

He and his wife, Corrine, hosted hundreds of Knight fellowship recipients, who remembered his self-mocking humor and her warmth. Nelson teamed up with Stanford communication Professor Wilbur Schramm to write Bold Experiment: The Story of Educational Television in Samoa. He was a professor emeritus after retiring in 1986.

Nelson was a national board member of the Nature Conservancy, a member of the Bohemian Club, and the only American member of the Reuter Foundation Board. He also was a trustee of the Hewlett Foundation. He was awarded honorary degrees by his father's alma
mater, Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., and by the Universidad Autonoma de Guadelajara. This past June, the John S. Knight Foundation (which endowed the Stanford program in 1982) donated $250,000 to the Lyle and Corrine Nelson international journalism fellowship.

Students have remembered him as a stellar teacher. His obituary in the San Jose Mercury-News cited this letter from a former student.

"Leaning back in your office chair, grinning from behind an eye shade, you hosted my favorite moments in school. Your stories and memories, your famously comic letters and your dependably wise advice were always delightful....You inspire in students the highest regard for journalism. You give us the motivation to work hard and work honestly."

A memorial service was held at Stanford Memorial Church on Sept. 29. Survivors include his wife, Corrine; his daughters, Dr. J. Lee Nelson of Seattle and Gayle Green of Portland; his sister, Leila Johnston of Norman, Okla., and sons-in-law Joe Ryan of Seattle and Peter Green of Portland.

Memorial donations may be made to the Lyle and Corrine Nelson international journalism fellowship, through the Knight Journalism Program at Stanford (Development Office, 301 Encina Hall, Stanford, Calif. 94305).