ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings has died of lung cancer at the age of 67.
The Canadian-born Jennings, host of ABC's
World News Tonight
since 1983, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. The newsman announced in April he had lung cancer and was beginning chemotherapy.
"Peter died with his family around him, without pain and in peace. He knew he'd lived a good life," his family said in a statement.
ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings
Jennings was the last of a generation of long-serving lead anchors for major US broadcasters.
He had a 41-year career with ABC, having joined the network in 1964. He anchored the prime-time news from 1965 to 1967 at a time when Walter Cronkite on CBS and the team of David Brinkley and Chet Huntley on NBC were dominant.
Jennings later established the first American television news bureau in the Arab world in 1968, serving as ABC News' bureau chief for Beirut for seven years. He had a major role in the network's coverage of the Summer Olympics in Munich, when Israeli athletes were taken hostage.
Barbara Walters
After the September 11th, 2001, attacks, Jennings anchored ABC broadcasts for more than 60 hours. The coverage garnered awards and critical acclaim; the TV Guidecalled him "the center of gravity."
"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," ABC News President David Westin wrote in announcing Jennings's death to colleagues.
"He was a superb writer," colleague Barbara Walters said in a special broadcast on ABC; "no one could ad-lib like Peter".