Obituaries : * Charles Chester; Former CBS News Executive

Ventura resident Charles Chester, a former CBS News executive and an avid sailer, died of complications after a liver transplant Saturday at UCLA Medical Center. He was 73.

Chester was born July 4, 1921 in Elko, Nev., where he grew up on his grandfather’s cattle ranch. He studied engineering in college and served in the Army in World War II. As a staff sergeant in the China Burma Theater between 1942-1945, Chester handled radio communications.

In 1947, Chester landed a job with the KRKD radio station in Los Angeles. Chester first worked for CBS at the network’s transmitter on Mt. Wilson in Los Angeles beginning in 1949.

After working for several television stations in Los Angeles, Chester and his wife moved to Washington, D.C., in 1964, where Chester eventually became a general manager for the news division of CBS.

Chester and his wife moved back to Los Angeles in 1979, where he was general manager for KNXT-TV before retiring in the Ventura Keys in 1980.

“He loved sailing and had several boats,” said his wife, Barbara Chester. “His last boat was a 38-foot [sailboat] that he loved dearly.”

Chester collected sports cars and had owned an old Jaguar and several Porsches, his wife said. He was also a longtime ham radio operator and built a 60-foot radio tower when the Chesters lived in Ojai.

Chester was a member of several associations, including the Channel Islands PC User’s Group, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

He is survived by his wife, four daughters--Catherine Moxley, of Rockville, Md.; Elizabeth McKee, of Ojai; Charlotte Roberts of Poolesville, Md., and Margaret Chester, of San Leandro--and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is set for Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura. Chester’s ashes will be buried in the church’s garden.

The family is asking that donations in memory of Charles Chester be made to: The Jo Ann Barr Foundation, Dumont-UCLA Liver Transplant Center, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Room 77-120 CHS, Los Angeles 90095.