Peter Jennings Dies at 67

[Halyanne]

Peter Jennings dies at 67

NEW YORK — ABC's Peter Jennings, the last of the big three network TV anchormen who delivered the news to Americans for more than two decades, died of cancer Sunday at his apartment in New York City. He was 67.

Jennings had stepped away from the ABC News desk after announcing in April that he had lung cancer. His death was announced by ABC News President David Westin late Sunday night. (Photo gallery: Remembering Peter Jennings)

"For four decades, Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him," Westin said. (Related story: Jennings was a natural anchor)

The Canadian-born son of a television newsman, Jennings was known for a laconic delivery and unflappable demeanor. He received numerous awards in his rise from an overseas correspondent to the anchor chair of one of America's three major broadcast networks.

After NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS' Dan Rather stepped down from their anchor positions earlier this year, Jennings was the last of a trio that dominated network news for more than two decades.

"He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man," said ABC News' Ted Koppel, a longtime friend of Jennings'.

Jennings remained a Canadian citizen until 2003, when he became a U.S. citizen. He said it had nothing to do with his politics — he did it for his family.

He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed; his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23; and his sister, Sarah Jennings.

"Peter died with his family around him, without pain and in peace. He knew he'd lived a good life," his wife said.

Jennings reported from Berlin in the 1960s when the Berlin Wall was going up, and he was there in the 1990s when it came down. He covered the Vietnam War, and he reported on the Cold War from capitals all over Europe.

He started out in his 20s, having joined ABC News in 1964. He established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world in 1968 when he served as ABC's bureau chief for Beirut, according to the network.

In 1975, Jennings moved to Washington to become the news anchor of ABC's morning program. He became ABC's chief foreign correspondent and in 1978 he was named the foreign desk anchor for World News Tonight. Jennings was named anchor and senior editor of the program in 1983.

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Very sad. I remember always liking him on the news.

[Aristotle]

I grew up with Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings as the three Gods of the News.

It is really shocking that now all three are gone.

For most of my life, I thought they were all pretty much the same. As I got older I learned there were indeed a lot of differences in style and journalistic methods. But no greater distinction can be drawn between them than the way they left their hallowed positions:

One retired gracefully.

One disgraced himself and had to quit in shame.

One has died of cancer.

With all three slots still up in the air (replacements have been temporary and experimental so far, for the most part), and with cable and internet news eating into network news' market share, one has to wonder if we will ever see anything again like the Big Three Anchors.

My opinion is that we will not. This was something unique that we will never see again. In some ways that is good. The centralization of that much journalistic power in so few people can be pretty dangerous.

But in other ways, it is a shame. Those three men truly had an ability to provide solace to the public in times of tragedy. There was often something comforting about watching one of the major anchors whenever something horrible had occurred. Alternatively, when there was a major positive news event, knowing you were watching the same broadcast that 1/3rd of the nation was watching seemed to bring an exhilarating sense of unity to the event. I doubt either of these positive phenomenon will ever be sufficiently replaced.