obituaries

PBS Anchor Gwen Ifill Has Died at Age 61

Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Veteran journalist and news anchor Gwen Ifill died after a battle with cancer on Monday at the age of 61, PBS confirmed.

Ifill, who was born in New York, worked at the Boston Herald-American, the Baltimore Evening Sun, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and NBC before going to PBS in 1999. She was best known for her work co-hosting PBS’s NewsHour and moderating Washington Week.

In addition to her work at PBS, she moderated two vice-presidential debates: 2004’s between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, and 2008’s between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. In 2015, she and Judy Woodward became the first all-female Democratic presidential-debate anchor team when they moderated one between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Ifill also published a book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, in 2009.

Sara Just, PBS NewsHour executive producer, said in a statement, “Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness, and integrity in an industry going through seismic change. She was a mentor to so many across the industry and her professionalism was respected across the political spectrum. She was a journalist’s journalist and set an example for all around her.”

PBS Anchor Gwen Ifill Has Died at Age 61