Mr. Chayefsky “was very charming and he was very funny about some of the people he saw,” Mr. Wald told Dave Itzkoff for his book ‘Mad as Hell: The Making of ‘Network’ and the Fateful Vision of the Angst Man in Cinema” (2014). “Which led me to believe he wasn’t going to treat them kindly.”

Mr. Wald resigned from NBC News in 1977 after disputes with the network’s senior management over issues including signing exclusive and expensive contracts with former chairman Gerald R. Ford; his wife, Betty; and Henry A. Kissinger, the former Secretary of State, to appear on NBC News specials.

Although he approved the signings at the time, he later felt that the fees paid resulted in cuts to his budget for special features and documentaries, The New York Times reported at the time.

After leaving NBC, Wald consulted with PBS on the future of public television newsgathering and for three months served as special assistant to Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler.

When Mr. Arledge recruited him to join ABC News in 1978, Mr. Wald had to adjust to the culture there, especially at the Washington bureau, which did not welcome him happily.

“If you think we need a guy from NBC to help us, you’re wrong,” said Frank Reynolds, one of three anchors on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” according to the memoir. by Mr. Arledge.

Mr. Wald adapted and stayed for 21 years.

In addition to his sons Matthew, a former New York Times reporter, and Jonathan, a former “Today” and “NBC Nightly News” executive producer, Mr. Wald, who lived in Larchmont, NY, is survived by one daughter, Elizabeth. Wald; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson. His wife, Edith (Leslie) Wald, died in 2021.