Joel P. Nixon ’50

Joel died Oct. 6, 2016, in Colorado. He was a pioneer in the sports-television industry.

He graduated from Andover. His Princeton activities included the Honor Committee, Undergraduate Council, and Orange Key. He belonged to Quadrangle and majored in politics.

With experience as a WPRU sports broadcaster and managing editor of The Princeton Herald, he went to New York, where he produced Gillette’s TV and radio show Cavalcade of Sports. He then produced New York Mets broadcasts and was senior vice president of Madison Square Garden before becoming vice president of broadcasting for the National Hockey League in 1979.

In 1989, he organized the first tour of North American hockey teams behind the Iron Curtain. He retired in 1994 and helped create the Western Professional Hockey League from a new home near Albuquerque, N.M.

In 2000 he moved to Tucson, Ariz., where he participated in Great Decisions, a foreign-policy discussion program; the Tucson Committee on Foreign Relations; and the United Nations Association. His favorite recreation was crossing oceans on replica sailing ships, having traversed major oceans more than a dozen times. In early 2015 he moved to Littleton, Colo., to be closer to family.

Joel is survived by Elaine, his wife of 52 years; son Peter; daughter Kelly; and 11 grandchildren.