One-time NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, a presence in America’s living rooms for more than two decades and the longtime face of the network, retired Friday after an award-winning 55-year career.
Brokaw, who turns 81 next month, came to the network’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza headquarters in 1976 as host of the “Today” show before moving to the anchor chair in 1982. He shared the job with co-anchor Roger Mudd before taking over by himself a year later, spending 21 of his 55 years with NBC in the anchor’s chair.
Brokaw, his down-to-earth delivery leavened by a quiet sense of humor, soon attracted a national following. He worked as a news editor for an Omaha, Nebraska, station before joining the network in 1966.
“Brokaw will continue to be active in print journalism, authoring books and articles, and spend time with his wife, Meredith, three daughters and grandchildren,” according to an NBC statement.
The son of South Dakota became one of television news’ most trusted sources as he collected a multitude of awards for his work: The Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, a dozen Emmys, two Peabody Awards. In each of his last four years at the anchor desk, the “NBC Nightly News” was honored with the Murrow Award for Best Newscast.
The globe-trotting journalist reported from Normandy Beach on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, traveled to Afghanistan for a piece on al-Qaida, and was the only network anchor on the scene when the Berlin Wall fell.
Brokaw won his first Peabody back in 1989 for the documentary “To Be An American,” a look inside the tapestry of life in the nation.
