William (Bill) Lowell Putnam died Dec. 20 in Lebanon, N.H., after a traumatic fall. He was 90. He was a prominent alpinist and television broadcaster.

He was born in Springfield on Oct. 25, 1924, the third of six children born to Roger Lowell and Caroline Jenkins Putnam. His father was a three-term mayor of Springfield, and a candidate for governor in Massachusetts. While studying geology at Harvard, Bill volunteered to fight in World War II, enlisting as a private and joining the elite 10th Mountain Division, a specialized ski unit trained to fight in mountainous and arctic conditions. He served in both the Aleutian and Italian campaigns, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He was awarded two Purple Hearts for injuries sustained and earned the Silver and Bronze Stars for gallantry in action. He developed a great fondness for Italy.

After the war ended, Bill returned to Harvard to finish his schooling in geology and then briefly taught geology at Tufts University. In September 1951, he married Joan Faith Fitzgerald of Milton and Edgartown. She died in April 1993.

Moving back to Springfield, he turned his attention to television. In 1953, he founded WWLP, Springfield’s first TV station and the first licensed UHF television station in the United States. He made the station a leader in the community by showcasing a variety of local events, including the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and by pioneering the television editorial. He added stations in Dayton, Ohio, and Salt Lake City, Utah, in the years that followed before selling the corporation in 1980s. For his pioneering efforts, he was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2001.

Noted for his involvement in the community, he was recognized with the William Pynchon Award and by the National Conference for Community and Justice. He led the rebirth of Forest Park as a noted recreational destination through his work as a commissioner of the parks in Springfield. More recently, he helped lead fundraising for the restoration of the Campanile.

While making a name for himself in the broadcasting world, Bill also became prominent in alpinist circles. He made several first ascents and exploratory expeditions in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, establishing himself as a distinguished American climber. He served as president of the American Alpine Club and vice president and council member of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA). He edited Canadian Rockies climbing guidebooks for years and in 2002, an alpine hut in the Selkirk Mountains was renamed the Bill Putnam Hut in his honor. He was known for a variety of successful mountain rescue efforts of stranded climbers in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where he had been a founding member of the Mount Washington ski patrol and an enthusiastic worker in the Appalachian Mountain Club hut system.

He later took up writing and authored a score of books about a variety of topics, including mountain climbing, Lowell Observatory history, his wartime adventures, his recollections of the early days of WWLP, railroads, merchant ships of World War I, and freedom of the press.

After retiring from broadcasting, he assumed the trusteeship of Lowell Observatory from his brother Michael. Bill would hold this position for 26 years, retiring in 2013. During his years at Lowell, he significantly expanded the visitor program by spearheading the construction of a new visitor center in 1994. On the research side, he worked closely with then-director Robert Millis in developing and realizing a vision of a major modern facility, the Discovery Channel Telescope. In one of his final significant acts as trustee, he guaranteed the construction of a new library and repository, the Putnam Collection Center, which opened in June 2014.

He married Kathryn Flynn Broman in 1999. He made significant philanthropic contributions in Flagstaff, Ariz. Some of the recipients of his patronage included the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, United Way of Northern Arizona, and the Flagstaff Festival of Science. Because of his long record of philanthropy in the community, he was honored with Flagstaff’s Viola Legacy Award in 2013, given annually to a citizen for lifetime contributions to the arts and/or sciences in the Flagstaff area.

He is survived by his children Katherine Putnam and her husband Timothy Delaney of Edgartown and Whately, and W. Lowell Putnam and his wife Kim of Longmeadow; step-children Erica Broman and her husband Christopher Millette of Longmeadow, Karen Talbot and her husband David of Mount Vernon, N.Y., and Morgan Broman and his wife Amy Dale of Washington, D.C.; his brothers Roger of Wellfleet, and Michael Putnam and his partner Kenneth Gaulin of Cambridge and Rockport, Me.; his sisters Anna Lowell Tomlinson of Vineyard Haven, and Mary Putnam Chatfield of Cambridge and Rockport, Me.; grandchildren Eleanor Putnam-Farr and her husband Brendan Nelson of Edgartown and Watertown, Keith Putnam Delaney of San Francisco and Edgartown, Margaret Putnam Delaney of Edgartown and Whately, Sara and Jennifer Putnam, and step-grandchildren Hale Alexander Talbot and his wife Aki Kamozawa, Meredith Studioso and her husband Brian, Russell Dale Broman, Graham and Flynn Vickowski and great-grandchildren Theodore and Alexandra Nelson.

A memorial service will be held at the Barney Carriage House at Forest Park in Springfield, on Saturday, Dec. 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. Another service will be held in Flagstaff, Ariz., sometime in 2015.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to one of these organizations: Mount Washington Observatory, P.O. Box 2310, North Conway, NH 03860 or Lowell Observatory, 1400 W. Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001.