Longtime Pittsburgh Talk Show Host Dies

WEST OLIVE, MI — The Rev. Dennis Benson, a talk show host in Pittsburgh for more than two decades, has died. He was 85. Benson died at a hospital near his home in Michigan.

The retired Presbyterian minister hosted radio and TV talk shows in Pittsburgh on WDVE-FM and the former KQV-AM, as well as WQED-TV. He produced the "Passages" radio show for the Presbyterian Media Mission for more than 30 years.

According to the Religion Communicators Council, Benson interviewed more than 15,000 people during his talk show career, including such disparate celebrities as rocker Alice Cooper and children's show host Fred Rogers.

Earlier this year, he received the Religion Communicators Council's Wilbur Award, which annually honors excellence in secular media - print and online journalism, book publishing, broadcasting and motion pictures.

"He wrote many books, conducted countless seminars, hosted radio shows, and interviewed thousands of folks, from the homeless guy under the bridge to John Lennon. He made each one of those thousands feel special," former WDVE DJ Jimmy Roach wrote in a Facebook post. "Dennis was the epitome of honor, honesty, fearlessness, and goodness. Heaven was made for someone like Dennis."

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday.