Rukesyer, Host of Wall $treet Week

If you are a wonk/geek, you loved Louis Rukeyser’s long-running business/economics show on PBS and you can still hum the theme song. Rukeyser died today at the age of 73:

Rukeyser helped to popularize the often dull and arcane subjects of economics and finance with puns that drew appreciative groans from his audience.

Once while answering a viewer’s letter on investing in a hairpiece manufacturer, he said, “If all your money seems to be hair today and gone tomorrow, we’ll try to make it grow by giving you the bald facts on how to get your investments toupee.”

After a market slump, he considered changing the name of the show to “Wall Street Wake.”

“We have in America a bad tendency that things have to be either serious or fun,” he once told the AP. “Whereas in real life, this isn’t true. The teachers we all remember in high school and college were not the ones who put us to sleep. I don’t think any of us should apologize for not being dull.”