ELEANOR SCHANO TO RECEIVE
LUTHERAN AFFILIATED SERVICES ‘EXCELLENCE IS AGELESS’ AWARD
ALONG WITH ART LINKLETTER
Awardees will be honored at Gala on April 30

PITTSBURGH, PA – Television icons Eleanor Schano and Art Linkletter will receive the Lutheran Affiliated Services “Excellence Is Ageless” Award at the Excellence Is Ageless Gala on Friday, April 30 at The Pittsburgh Field Club. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a reception and silent auction. Dinner and awards will follow at 7 p.m.

The “Excellence Is Ageless” Gala and Awards celebrate the spirit and vitality of seniors in western Pennsylvania while raising significant dollars for benevolent care and services.

Lutheran Affiliated Services provides programs of excellence that enhance the quality of life and life satisfaction of older adults within caring communities. Eleanor Schano and Art Linkletter exemplify LAS’s abundant life philosophy and inspire others to be vibrant, productive persons.

“Over the years, I have witnessed the enormous contribution Lutheran Affiliated Services provides to our community, said Schano. “I am deeply honored to be recognized with this very distinguished award. It is my sincere belief that we do live in an ‘ageless’ society where people don’t grow old, they only become old when they stop growing.”

Eleanor Schano is the host of WQED’s local television program LifeQuest. On Saturday, May 22, Eleanor will interview Art Linkletter on the program. LifeQuest takes a lively look at issues people face every day and includes helpful information viewers can use to live a healthier life. It can be seen on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on WQED tv13.

For interviews with Eleanor or photos, please contact Gigi Saladna, promotion manager for WQED Multimedia. For more information on the “Excellence Is Ageless” Awards and Gala, please contact Ed Hager, president of the LAS Foundation at 724-453-6015 or
ehager@lassenior.org.

Lutheran Affiliated Services has 110-year tradition of serving and empowering seniors to live life and to live it abundantly regardless of their physical or financial circumstances. It offers a spectrum of care and services to elders from independent living to late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

WQED Multimedia, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2004, provides educational, cultural and informational products and services that enhance and engage the community. It is the parent company of WQED tv13, WQED fm89.3, WQEJ fm89.7/Johnstown, a publishing division that includes PITTSBURGH magazine, local and national television and radio productions, www.wqed.org and the WQED Education Resource Center.

Eleanor Schano Bio
Since 1991, veteran broadcast journalist Eleanor Schano has broken new ground as the host of the award winning AgeWise program, now renamed LifeQuest.
The WQED Multimedia production was among the first TV shows of its kind in the nation devoted exclusively to issues affecting the lives of older adults. Schano and her guests explored the health, financial, social and political issues that impact the lives of this unique senior audience.

Now hosting LifeQuest, a program that’s a new twist on the former AgeWise and geared toward a younger audience, Schano and her guests offer a broad spectrum of essential information viewers can use to gain more vitality, a greater sense of purpose and a healthier, happier lifestyle.

In addition to her assignments at WQED, Schano serves as Special Project Director for KQV Newsradio and is responsible for numerous series on health, education, culture and entertainment.

Eleanor Schano is Pittsburgh's "woman of firsts," beginning her distinguished career in 1952 at WDTV Channel 3 (now KDKA-TV) as the first woman commercial announcer and weathercaster while still an undergraduate at Duquesne University.
In 1959, she made history again as the first female general assignment news reporter at WTAE-TV and in 1969 she became the city's first solo anchorwoman at WIIC-TV (now WPXI-TV).

Schano is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious President's Award from the American Women in Radio and Television.

In 2001, she was honored by both the Press Club of Western PA and the Pittsburgh Radio and TV Club with Outstanding Career Achievement Awards.
Schano delivers more than 200 lectures each year to civic groups and professional organizations on topics ranging from lifestyle, health and fitness to media history.