Jennings dies at age 67

ABC News “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings, 67, died at his New York City home Aug. 7 among family from lung cancer.

Jennings, who has anchored “World News Tonight” since 1983, announced his illness to the nation in April. Jennings is survived by his wife Kayce Freed and two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23.

The son of Charles Jennings, an executive and radio reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Jennings first took the reins of ABC’s evening newscast “ABC Evening News” in 1965 and was fired three years later.

In the intervening period, Jennings worked as a foreign correspondent reporting from Vietnam, the Middle East and South Asia.

Many will remember Jennings for his calm, reassuring reporting of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.

On April 5, 2005, Jennings concluded his evening newscast by announcing his illness to viewers. He thanked his co-workers and others who had expressed support and said he would resume anchoring duties as his condition allowed. Jennings never returned to anchor the newscast.

In a statement from President George Bush posted on the White House Web site, the president said, “Laura and I were saddened to learn about the death of Peter Jennings. Peter Jennings had a long and distinguished career as a news journalist. He covered many important events, events that helped define the world as we know it today. A lot of Americans relied upon Peter Jennings for their news. He became a part of the lives of a lot of our fellow citizens, and he will be missed. May God bless his soul.”

Back to the top