Revered Journalist Gwen Ifill Dies

Ifill Was 61

Esteemed journalist Gwen Ifill of PBS is dead at 61. She was the co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS NewsHour and moderator and managing editor of Washington Week. 

Ifill, who moderated both the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates, was highly-respected and beloved among D.C. journalists. 

She had taken a leave of absence in May to battle breast cancer.

“I am very sad to tell you that our dear friend and beloved colleague Gwen Ifill passed away today in hospice care in Washington,” WETA president and CEO Sharon Percy Rockefeller wrote in a staff email Monday, Politico reports. “I spent an hour with her this morning and she was resting comfortably, surrounded by loving family and friends… Earlier today, I conveyed to Gwen the devoted love and affection of all of us at WETA/NewsHour. Let us hold Gwen and her family even closer now in our hearts and prayers.”

On MSNBC, stoic Pete Williams desperately but unsuccessfully tried to report the sad news without tears:

 

Image by PBS NewsHour via Flickr and a CC license