Harvey Chertok said farewell to this world after lunch at his favorite Park West Diner with his beloved wife, Bobbi on Sunday, February 25th. Harvey passed with his family by his side, invincible until the end.

Born in 1932, the son of immigrants Frank and Anna Chertok, Harvey grew up playing Ringolevio and Hit the Point stickball games with his buddies on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. A hardworking overachiever, he graduated Dewitt Clinton High School in only two years before enrolling in New York University, where he received a BA as well as an MBA in just five years. At NYU, he made life-long friends with the fraternity brothers of Alpha Sigma Chi.

A true Horatio Alger, Mr. Chertok started in the mailroom of National Telefilm Associates (NTA) and worked his way up to become a “mad man”, promoting films and series in the burgeoning television industry of 1960’s and 1970’s Manhattan. At Warner Bros. Seven Arts he publicized the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, helping her to become a TV talk show host. He also brought the artist, Salvador Dali, to New York to promote a documentary about his life in Spain.

Early in his career, Harvey produced “7 Surprizes,” with the National Film Board of Canada--and “The Great Charlie Chan,” a documentary about Hollywood’s classic detective series, with a gala premiere at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In his own venture, Children’s Movie of the Month, Mr. Chertok made a special Christmas version of the classic, “The Nutcracker,” featuring boxing’s Middleweight Champion, Rocky Graziano, as Santa Claus.

Mr. Chertok came to lead marketing for Time Life Television, including promoting all BBC productions in the U.S., where he introduced American audiences to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, “Doctor Who” and more. He also publicized special events with Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. He unexpectedly obtained a copy of Nixon’s letter of resignation as President and used it in ads to promote the “Blind Ambition” mini-series based on John Dean’s book about Watergate. He also publicized a star-studded “Meet the President” telecast featuring Mohammed Ali following President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration.

The recipient of 4 Emmys, Harvey went on to produce other movies including “The Impossible Spy,” the award-winning true story of Israel’s national hero, Eli Cohen with his own production company, Quartet International. Starring John Shea and Eli Wallach, it tells of Cohen’s daring and successful mission in Syria in the 1960’s that saved his country in the June 1967 Six-Day War.

Chertok served as a long-time member of the Board of Governors and a National Trustee of the National Television Academy (NATAS). He also taught “The Business Of Television” at New York University and The New School.

More than any of these professional accomplishments, Mr. Chertok will be remembered for always being the greatest fan of his family and close friends. He is survived by his loving wife, Bobbi, their three children, Michael, Pamela and Douglas, son-in-law Paul Caine, and grandchildren, Samantha, Ryan, and Gavin.