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‘NewsHour’ co-anchor Gwen Ifill attends The Women’s Media Center 2015 Women’s Media Awards in New York. Ifill has been on leave for weeks for an undisclosed health issue. PBS said she is doing well and plans to return to the air around Memorial Day. Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File
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Gwen Ifill dies at 61

The longtime journalist was a legend in the industry

Clinton Yates @clintonyates
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    3:40 PMWe weren’t ready.

    The year of 2016 continued its devastating run of people we love who have died, this time touching the journalism world again. Gwen Ifill, host of PBS’ Washington Week died Monday at the age of 61. She was an old-school reporter who had worked at The Washington Post, The New York Times and NBC. News of her death caught many by surprise who were unaware that she was dealing with health issues. She had taken a leave of absence as a result of breast cancer.

    “Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change,” PBS said in a statement. “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. So many people in the audience felt that they knew and adored her. She had a tremendous combination of warmth and authority. She was stopped on the street routinely by people who just wanted to give her a hug and considered her a friend after years of seeing her on TV. We will forever miss her terribly.”

    https://twitter.com/7im/status/798242716333195264

    She moderated the 2004 and 2008 vice presidential debates and won countless honors during her career. Talking about his former MSNBC colleague on Monday afternoon, a teary-eyed Pete Williams said she had so many awards piled up in her office you could barely see out of the window.

    In an era in which blaming the media seems to be all the rage, we can all agree that we’ve lost one of the greatest to ever do it.

    Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes — in that order.