OPC Foundation mourns the loss of a TV titan and a great friend Richard Leibner

Leibner with Bienstock Scholarship winner Audrey Gray in 2019 at the OPC Foundation Awards. 

The OPC Foundation lost a valuable friend with the death of legendary talent agent Richard Leibner. A long-time member of the Overseas Press Club, Leibner was a great supporter of the OPC Foundation and an annual guest at the OPC Foundation Awards Luncheons hosting his staff from N. S. Bienstock or the Richard Leibner /Carole Cooper Family Foundation. In 2012, he endowed the Nathan S. Bienstock Memorial Scholarship to honor one of his fellow co-founders of the legendary talent agency that represents more than 600 television news personnel. The firm was bought by UTA in 2014 but retained the name. Leibner retired in 2021.

In his time, Leibner served as an agent and adviser to Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Morley Safer, Bob Simon, Steve Kroft, Diane Sawyer, Norah O’Donnell, Paula Zahn, Anderson Cooper and Fareed Zakaria, among others. He and his wife Carole Cooper, a UTA agent, have been inducted into The Giants of Broadcasting by the Library of American Broadcasting, the Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame, and NATAS Gold Circle.

The OPC Foundation will honor Leibner’s legacy by awarding the Bienstock Scholarship annually in his name.