Trailblazing journalist and New York native Gwen Ifill, co-anchor of PBS’ “NewsHour,” died of cancer on Monday.
She was 61.
“Her contributions to thoughtful reporting and civic discourse simply cannot be overstated,” PBS CEO and president Paula Kerger said.
“She often said that her job was to bring light rather than heat to issues of importance to our society. Gwen did this with grace and steadfast commitment to excellence.”
Kerger said Ifill was “a fundamental reason public media is considered a trusted window on the world.”
Ifill will be best remembered for moderating two vice presidential debates — in 2004 with John Edwards and Dick Cheney and again in 2008 with Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.
The PBS anchor had taken a leave of absence from “NewsHour” earlier this year due a then-undisclosed illness.
She had been listed to work on election night but was absent.
“Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change,” said Sara Just, “NewsHour” executive producer.
“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.”
Before going in front of the camera, Ifill started her career in newspapers — first at the Baltimore Evening Sun and then the Boston Herald American. She went on to write for the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Ifill said she was keenly aware of her role as one of the few African-American women with a high-profile job in TV news.
“When I was a little girl watching programs like this — because that’s the kind of nerdy family we were — I would look up and not see anyone who looked like me in any way. No women. No people of color,” she told the Times in 2013, upon the announcement she’d be anchoring “NewsHour” with Judy Woodruff.
“I’m very keen about the fact that a little girl now, watching the news, when they see me and Judy sitting side by side, it will occur to them that that’s perfectly normal — that it won’t seem like any big breakthrough at all.”
Ifill penned a 2009 best-seller, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.”
She grew up in New York City and graduated from Simmons College in Boston, according to her PBS bio.