My thoughts and prayers go out to the Vartigan family.  Ralph was a good and decent man.  It was a privilege to know him.

[bLongtime Capital Region broadcaster Ralph Vartigian dies at 89
By Kate Seckinger December 17, 2015][/b]

CAPITAL REGION — Many remember him as “Commander” and best friend of Mr. Monkey, others recall him as the man who anchored the afternoon news, but everyone who knew him remembers him as being a good man.

Ralph Vartigian, an accomplished and popular Capital Region television broadcaster, died unexpectedly at his North Greenbush home Saturday. He was 89.

“I can’t think of another person who was more beloved in the area,” said John McLoughlin, who worked with Vartigian for 17 years at WTEN Channel 10. “He was such a good person. You could talk to dozens of people who knew him, and you won’t find one of them who would have a bad thing to say — it’ll be a one-note song.”

Vartigian grew up in Watervliet and served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II until being honorably discharged in July 1946, according to his obituary on legacy.com.

After attending Siena College and the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Vartigian started his career in broadcasting with a position at the radio station WSNY in Schenectady.

When the television station WROW was about to make its debut in 1953, McLoughlin said, Vartigian began working for the station, which later was acquired by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation and became WTEN Channel 10.

“He was one of the pioneers of local television,” McLoughlin explained.

Starting out as a weatherman, Vartigian went on to become the television

personality the Capital Region loved as Commander Ralph of The Good Ship News program in 1961.

The Commander, along with his friend Mr. Monkey, would explain news and current events on a simpler level for kids during the popular morning show.

“It was like his version of Captain Kangaroo,” McLoughlin said Wednesday. “We used to tease him about it too, after he got into news, but it was all in good fun.”

He said Ralph co-hosted “Dialing for Dollars” with John Stewart and co-anchored “Action News at Noon” with Mary Caroline Powers for 12 years.

“Ralph and Mary Caroline were very popular,” McLoughlin said. “Everyone got into it because Ralph had that residual recognition with so many people in the area.”

McLoughlin, who is now a reporter with WNYT Channel 13 in Albany, said he remembers Vartigian’s retirement party in October of 1989.

“Terry Cavanaugh, who is the assignment editor at Channel 10 now, was just a kid then and dressed up as Mr. Monkey,” McLoughlin recalled, laughing, of the event held at the Franklin Banquet Hall in Troy. “Every Christmas party we had back then, someone would dress up as Mr. Monkey, and Ralph was always so good about it. He would always laugh along.”

After leaving television, Vartigian served for three terms in the Rensselear County Legislature and for a time was the Republican majority leader.

“He kept getting re-elected because people knew him, liked him and trusted him,” McLoughlin said of his former co-worker’s political career.

While he was successful and was great to work with, McLoughlin said Vartigian was an even better human being.

“Ralph was a great family man, was a wonderful father to his kids and a faithful church member,” he said. “He knew what was important about life — it wasn’t television or news, it was his family and his faith that mattered most to him.

“Young people going into television today would do well to emulate him,” he continued. “If we had a lot more Ralph Vartigians in the world, the world would be a better place.”