Jim Lehrer Passed Away at 85

Credit: Terry Ashe/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images

So one of my memorable anchors in my childhood, Jim Lehrer - who was anchor "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" (now renamed "PBS Newshour") when I was growing up - has died at the age of 85. He was the anchor of the aforementioned "The Newshour" when it was called "The Robert McNeil Report" and since he got promoted to co-anchor, the show has been renamed a few times from "The McNeil/Lehrer Report" to "The McNeil/Lehrer Newshour" to the legendary-named "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer", when Robert McNeil resigned from his co-anchor chair in 1995, to currently "PBS Newshour" in 2009. Lehrer would then leave the anchor chair in 2011.

Back when I was little, I sometimes go watch "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" for curiosity reasons. Though "ABC World News with Peter Jennings" is my preferred choice to watch, I would have to give Lehrer the credit for what he has done for PBS and the United States of America and the world (also give Jennings credit for what has done to ABC and the USA and the world as well; Jennings died at the age of 67 withe lung cancer being the cause of his death). After all, Jim Lehrer is one of the legendary faces of PBS (Gwen Ifill was also one of them; she died on November 14, 2016 at the age of 61 after fighting breast cancer).


Written by Malcolm Franokuski. Photo Credit: Terry Ashe/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images