Irving R. Levine, NBC's reserved, bow-tied business reporter during the '70s and '80s, has died, partly of old age and partly of shame at the way his former beat is being covered by tools.

Levine, whom you probably don't remember but will instantly recognize when you watch the clips below, plied the airwaves of NBC News back when dignity was recognized as a virtue in on-air personalities and people actually carried microphones around. He was exactly what a business reporter should be: Staid, careful, and serious. He had no discernable on-camera ego, and his death is timely in the sense that it reminds us just how insane the gang of testosterone-addled, shrieking, dancing clowns who have hijacked the coverage of our economy on television really are.

There aren't many clips of Levine at work out there, but here are two (you have to wade through a not-insubstantial period of randomness in both clips before you see Levine, but it's worth it so you can compare him to Jim Cramer and cry).