Tom Keller, broadcast pioneer and former executive with the National Association of Broadcasters died July 19, 2026 at the age of 96.
Keller, who began his career in broadcasting as Director of Engineering for WGBH in Boston for 18 years, went on to serve as head of NAB’s Science and Technology department in the 1980s, helping establish the Advanced Television Systems Committee and overseeing the Advanced Television Terrestrial Broadcast Project, which provided transmission/reception of early HDTV technologies used for demonstrations to the FCC and Congress. Keller was a Lifetime Fellow of SMPTE and a senior member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society.
A recipient of NAB’s Television Engineering Award in 2011, Keller spent over 50 years working in the U.S. television broadcast industry, contributing significant achievements to broadcast engineering development and emerging as a leading technical innovator. As president of technology consulting firm T. Keller Corp., he led development and extensive laboratory and field studies of new technologies for broadcasting. Among his accomplishments, Keller created an early computerized captioning system for the hearing-impaired and engineered one of the first Electronic Field Production programs ever produced for network release.
SBE President Kevin Trueblood, CBTE, CBNT issued the following statement:
"Tom's extraordinary career provided the vision and technical leadership that helped shape modern broadcasting. From advancing closed captioning and television audio standards to helping establish ATSC and guiding the development of digital television, his contributions have had a lasting impact on our industry."
Keller, from South Yarmouth, Mass., is survived by six children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
