Jim Lange, 1932-2014

 

Jim Lange, Minnesota's first Evans Scholar, passed away Feb. 25 in Mill Valley, Calif. Lange, 81, who was best known as the former host of the popular TV show, "The Dating Game," grew up in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood and caddied at the Midland Hills Country Club. In 1950 he enrolled at the University of Minnesota as the first member of the Minnesota chapter of the Evans Scholars program. 
 

"I credit the Evans Scholar program for everything that I have done," Lange told Joe Oberle for a 2007 feature in the MGA's publication, Minnesota Golfer magazine.

"I would never have gone to college. I didn't have the money. The scholarship certainly gave me the entree into higher education... If it wasn't for the scholarship, I don't know where I would be. I am thankful every day for that."
 

After graduating from the university, and serving a stint in the Marines, Lange moved to San Francisco and worked in radio. His television career began as sidekick on the Tennessee Ernie Ford show in 1962. Three years later he landed the host job of "The Dating Game." His other game shows included $100,000 Name That Tune, Bullseye, and The All-New Newlywed Game. He returned to radio in the 1980s, and later hosted a morning program, The Lang Gang, on KABL in San Francisco, before retiring in 2005. 

Lange is survived by his wife, Nancy, a sister, five children, two stepchildren and four grandchildren. 

Read the Minneapolis Star Tribune obituary notice.

Read the Associated Press news on Lange's death.