A longtime public radio fixture, Lopate has hosted a talk show on WNYC daily since 1985. His brother is writer Phillip Lopate.

Born in Brooklyn, Lopate attended Brooklyn College and Hunter College, where he studied to be a painter under Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, and worked in advertising for over a decade. However, in 1977 in a chance encounter he was given an opportunity to host a radio show on WBAI and was hooked. Soon after he started his show "Round Midnight," a late night interview show that also used callers as a source of discussion. By the mid-80s he moved to an earlier mid-afternoon start time, and the "Leonard Lopate Show" on WNYC was born. Known for the breadth of his interview subject, Lopate's show will in one hour span from gospel music to recipes and sciene news. He also created the long-running series "Please Explain," where experts in a given field provide a cheat-sheet for us normal folk. Lopate doesn't shy away from being seen in person—he's made appearances at the 92nd Street Y, New York Public Library, and BAM. [Image via Getty]