With over 50 years of professional experience, Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld has created, produced and hosted a number of programs ranging from talk shows to game shows, as well as variety and home shopping shows. Among the many shows she has been involved with include “That Show with Joan Rivers,” “On the Record,” “Panorama” and “The New Yorkers.”
First celebrated for her accomplishments with an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1972, Ms. Weidenfeld later received awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Media from the American Association of University Women in 1973 and 1974. Subsequently, she was presented with a Silver Screen Award for her work on “A Campaign to Remember” for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in 1989, and a Bronze Medal from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 1990.
Because of her success as a television producer, Ms. Weidenfeld was selected as the press secretary to First Lady Betty Ford following the resignation of President Nixon. She also held the distinction of serving as the special assistant to President Gerald Ford. In 1979, Ms. Weidenfeld’s memoir, “First Lady’s Lady” about her time in the White House during the Ford administration, was published by Putnam, a division of Penguin.
In addition to her responsibilities in the television industry, Ms. Weidenfeld was honorary consul general of the Republic of San Marino from 1981 to 2018. She was knighted by the Order of Saint Agatha in recognition of her continuing service to the country. Other commissions she has served on include the C&O National Historical Park Advisory Commission, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council, the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee for the Foreign Service Institute, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the Women’s Campaign Fund. She is also a founding judge of Project Censored, and was on the board of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Eisenhower Foundation.
Before embarking on her career, Ms. Weidenfeld earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1965. In the years since, she has been a member of a number of professional organizations including the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the National Press Club, the Alliance for Women in Media, the Consular Corps, Sigma Delta Chi and the Cosmos Club.
