BUFORD F. “BUD” HAYES
May 28, 1937 – July 3, 2022
Buford F. “Bud” Hayes, 85, was born in Parkdale, Arkansas, on May 28, 1937. In 1959 he was driving a milk truck for Carnation Company as well as working part-time at a Standard Oil Gas Station and as a salesman for a coffee Company in Los Angeles.
In 1966, even though he had no previous training or experience, his friend Gene Ranney offered him an apprentice editor position on the television show ‘Flipper’ for Ivan Tors in Miami, Florida. He moved up to assistant editor on ‘Gentle Ben’. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles and began working as an assistant editor on such shows ‘Baretta’, ‘Quincy’, and ‘Alias Smith and Jones’.
In 1974 Roy Huggins offered him an editor position on ‘Rockford Files’ and he continued working in television until his retirement in 1998. During his career he edited shows such as ‘Fame’; ‘Murder She Wrote’; ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’; and ‘In the Heat of the Night’, for which he won an Eddie Award in 1989. He was also nominated for two other Eddie Awards during his career.
Bud was preceded in death by his first wife, Jimmie Ann, his mother, Vivian Hayes, and his father, George Hayes.
He is survived by his current wife, Dianna; his sisters, Marilou Powell and Martha Jane Locke (husband Julian); his sons, Jerry (wife Lisa) and Tim (wife Stacy); his daughters, Cynthia Aaron and Jennifer Simoskevitz (husband Sean); his two grandchildren, Kevin Simoskevitz and Holly Simoskevitz; his sisters-in-law, Colleen Cunningham (husband Paul) and Margaret Sullivan; and several nieces and nephews.
The most important thing to Bud was his family. He loved spending time at the river, reading his Louis L’Amour books, and watching historical documentaries and mysteries.
