MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Gus Bernier, the former host of a long-running New Hampshire children’s TV show, has died at his Hawaii home. He was 85.

His wife, Doreen, told the New Hampshire Sunday News that Gus Bernier died Saturday morning local time.

Bernier was born in Little Rock, Ark., on Jan. 13, 1920. Bernier worked in the hotel his father owned in Little Rock until 1940, when he entered the Army Air Corps. He was sent to Boston to go to school, then on to Houlton Air Base in Maine where he met his wife. The two married in 1944.

Bernier was going to ship out to England with his unit, but instead was sent to Grenier Field in Manchester to play drums in a band in the Special Services Division of the Army Air Corps.

After he left the service, Bernier remained in Manchester. He went to work for WMUR radio in 1944, then became the regular announcer on WMUR-TV. Bernier was the station’s Atlantic Weatherman and Santa Claus, and starred in the “Uncle Gus Show,” which ran through the 1960s and 1970s. He retired in 1980.

Years after the show went off the air, Bernier remained a recognizable figure in Manchester’s collective memory. In 1993, he served as a grand marshal for the city’s Christmas parade.

Bernier talked about his television show in a 1992 interview.

“We were running some cartoons on the air one afternoon and some kids were walking through the studio, so a manager named David O’Shea asked me to put on a funny beanie and entertain the kids, so I did,” Bernier said.

Said Bernier, “We had our share of accidents on the chairs and the gaffes that come when children speak on live television, but I’d be willing to bet the kids enjoyed themselves.”

The Berniers moved to Hawaii in 2000.

Among the family members Bernier leaves behind are his wife, two daughters and two sons.