ABC News Reporter and Anchor Was 89

Tom Jarrielformer news anchor and reporter ABC News who became the main guest of the news magazine 20/20died. He was 89 years old.

Jarriel’s family announced his death on Thursday, ABC News reported.

Jarriel joined the network in 1965 and covered the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and later the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford as a White House correspondent.

He later hosted the network’s weekend news program and served as a reporter. 20/20the network’s news magazine, introduced in 1978.

According to ABC, Jarriel has received six Emmy awards for his reporting on the show. The network described a report on children in Romanian orphanages as “the biggest, defining moment of my career.”

“He was an excellent, award-winning reporter on 20/20 and a gracious colleague, a true gentleman,” Geraldo Rivera, who was also a reporter on the show, shared on X.

Jarriel is survived by his wife Joan and three sons.