Lawrence Edmund Spivak (June 11, 1900 - March 9, 1994) An American publisher and journalist best known as a regular panelist and later moderator on NBC's Meet The Press from 1947 to 1975, a program he produced and co-created with original host Martha Rountree. Prior to his assuming the moderator's chair in 1966, which he held until his retirement from the show in 1975, he sat on the panel, while Ms. Rountree, and later Ned Brooks, moderated. Spivak was distinguished by his rather dapper appearance, his wardrobe usually including a bowtie and heavy-rimmed glasses. As moderator, he asked the first question of the Meet the Press guest and then handed off to the other journalists on the panel, which usually totaled four during his decades-long tenure as the host/moderator of this TV program.
According to Mr. Spivak's grandson, this timepiece was originally purchased by Mr. Spivak during a trip to Switzerland in 1952 and was his everyday watch, worn on many occasions during his tenure on Meet The Press. Throughout the years, the guest list of Meet The Press was a Who's Who of the world's movers and shakers: John F. Kennedy, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru of India, King Hussein of Jordan, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and others of equal luster. It is interesting to note that Lawrence Spivak stood only 5 feet 3 inches tall; hence, it is not surprising that he wore an elegant, thin wristwatch correspondingly smaller than a typical men's timepiece.