Veteran journalist Mark Haines, a fixture on CNBC for 22 years, died unexpectedly Tuesday evening. He was 65 years old. CNBC President Mark Hoffman called Haines a "building block" of the financial networks' programming.
I had conducted press briefings from the White House, from US Treasury, I had done countless network and cable interviews, but I was never more worried about saying something stupid than when I did my first interview with Mark Haines!
Mark was not the sort of guy who would come running over to say hello when I dropped in for a visit to CNBC headquarters. If I saw him in a hallway, he'd shout "Janie!" on his way to one of his infamous smoking breaks and keep on walking. I loved it.
The NYSE may have been the Mark's home for the many years that he anchored "Squawk on the Street" from that floor, but he also found his way into the hearts of many of the traders here at the Nymex.
To Mark, on air, I was ‘Erb (he dropped the “H”) and since my return he always introduced me saying something like, “Now let’s pay a visit to ‘Erb’s Garden.” I loved it! (Any nickname from Mark was coveted.)
This is a guy who didn't put on airs. He came to work in ratty sweatpants and god-awful bright-colored Crocs. He didn't suffer fools, but at the end of the day he really was always fair.
He was an original. In every sense. As a producer, what I loved about Mark was that he was truly authentic, and never pretended to be anything but who he was.
I negotiated Mark's first deal and we had a long talk about the fact that he had gone to law school and never loved the law and that broadcasting was his passion... and it must have been, because when we hired Mark, he worked for very little money, but he was always happy.