In Memory of Chester F. Collier
June 19, 1927 - August 15, 2007
Chet Collier, a Boston native, was born in 1927. He joined the Navy at the age of 17 to serve in WW II. He graduated from Emerson College and started his career as production assistant at Channel 4 in Boston. As a longtime network television producer and executive with Group W Production, Westinghouse Broadcasting, CNBC and Fox News, he over saw the development and productions of The Mike Douglas Show, Regis Philbin Show, The Steve Allen Show, the Merv Griffin Show and David Frost Show. In the mid 1990's he assisted in launching the Fox news Channel and become the senior VP at Fox.
He has won seven Emmys, The George Foster Peabody Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He was Past President of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences/New England.
In the 1960’s while chairman of Group W Westinghouse, Chet became involved with purebred dogs. A good friend gave him a Bouviers des Flandres and told him he had to show it – that would be just the beginning. Chet enjoyed great competitive success with more than 50 BIS awards, became president of the American Bouvier de Flanders Club, served as an AKC delegate for a number of years and sat on AKC's Board of Directors from 1986 to 1990 and was an extremely competent, well respected and admired AKC judge.
For those of us in the dog show world Chet will be remembered for using his successful television background to create a vision, and his knowledge of the sport of dogs, to make the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show into the world's most famous dog show. He left a grand legacy; a sold out Madison Square Garden, millions watching the show live on TV, millions more from 140 countries logging onto the Web site, thousand of entries turned away every year after the limit, 600 members of the media covering the event in person from 20 different countries and the Empire State building lit in purple and gold in honor of Westminster's show every February.
Chet became show chairman for Westminster in 1978. A position he held for 12 years. He then served as President for another 13 years. In 2000, Westminster Kennel Club accorded him the honor of judging Best in Show. In 2007, he became the first recipient of the Sensation Award in recognition of his contribution to the club, to purebred dogs and the sport of showing dogs. When asked, Jud Streicher shared, “For me personally, Chet was a long-standing, treasured friend. I know I am among many who miss him greatly.”
As Dog News once wrote, his influence, wisdom and devotion to the sport shaped Westminster, the American Kennel Club and the sport of dogs in general, probably as the most influential person in the sport over the past 30 years.
Chet single-handedly created live televised dog shows, embodied by his very own world-famous Westminster. Because of him millions of people share in this annual celebration of the dogs in our lives.
Chet had a special gift of making everything work easily. He could bring out the best in people and, many times, they found themselves doing things they didn’t know they could. His influence, wisdom, and devotion to the sport are unsurpassed. He was quite simply, the guy that everyone in the dog show world wanted to be then and now, but no one will ever be Chet Collier.
Thank you for the memories Chet! We will miss you greatly.