Fired NBC News Host Matt Lauer Has Ohio Ties

ATHENS, OH – Matt Lauer, who was fired by NBC News early Wednesday over "inappropriate sexual behavior" in the workplace, is a native of New York City, but has ties to Ohio University. He graduated from the university's school of journalism.

Lauer's dismissal from NBC was announced at the start of the "Today" broadcast on Wednesday morning by his now former co-host Savannah Guthrie, who read a statement from NBC News chairman Andy Lack. The company received a detailed complaint from a colleague Monday night "about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace" by Lauer, according to the statement. NBC found after a review of the complaint it represented "a clear violation" of the company's standards.

It was the first complaint about Lauer in more than 20 years at NBC, but "we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident," Lack said.

His ties to Ohio date back to the 1970s, when he first attended Ohio University. Four credit hours shy of his course requirements for graduation, Lauer dropped out to pursue his broadcast news career in 1979 and a producing job in Huntington, West Virginia.

After career stops in Richmond, Virginia, Providence, Rhode Island, Philadelphia and Boston, Lauer landed in New York in 1992.

It was in 1997, that he returned to Athens, Ohio. In a report by the university's alumni magazine, Lauer, then 39, came back to finish his degree. He also spoke at the university's commencement ceremony in June 1997, when he received his degree. He told the alumni magazine:

"It's tough for me to sit here today with what's happened and say I regret it (not staying to finish his degree)... In terms of whether it's hurt me, no it hasn't. I hate to brag about that, because I don't want people to think it's just fine."

Lauer's termination comes a week after another broadcast news mogul, Charlie Rose, was terminated by CBS News amid reports of sexual misconduct.

Photo: Matt Lauer, co-host of the NBC "Today" television program, appears on set in Rockefeller Plaza, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)