Bernard Shaw, who was CNN’s chief anchor and stayed with the network for two decades, has died aged 82.
His family told the network he died on Wednesday (7 September) of pneumonia at a hospital in Washington.
Mr Shaw was CNN’s first chief anchor when the network began broadcasting in 1980. He remained with the channel until his retirement in 2001.
“CNN’s beloved anchor and colleague, Bernard Shaw, passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Bernie was a CNN original and was our Washington Anchor when we launched on 1 June 1980,” CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht said in a statement released by the network on Thursday.
“He was our lead anchor for the next 20 years from anchoring coverage of presidential elections to his iconic coverage of the First Gulf War live from Baghdad in 1991. Even after he left CNN, Bernie remained a close member of our CNN family providing our viewers with context about historic events as recently as last year. The condolences of all of us at CNN go out to his wife Linda and his children.”
A public memorial service will take place at a later date, after a private service this Sunday. Through a statement, the family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Bernard Shaw Scholarship Fund at the University of Chicago.
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