Uncle Walter Signs Off

The legendary Walter Cronkite died today at his home in New York after many years of suffering from dementia. What can I add about the legendary newsman who was The Voice of the news for millions of Americans each night, and the idol of aspiring journalists all over? I can tell you that during my junior year of college, I had the honor of taking part in an intimate roundtable discussion (about "the future" of journalism") with Cronkite held at my J-school that bore his name. (The University of Texas, where he attended without graduating in the 1930s, has long hated Arizona State University for honoring Cronkite before they could. His response to the "snub"? "They never offered.") When my adviser, Sharon Bramlett-Solomon, first asked me if I would go to represent the print division, I was thrilled -- and panic-stricken. Dr. Bramlett-Solomon might have been able to picture it, but I just couldn't see the Bananarama-obsessed music critic of the school paper and the most trusted name in news in the same room. (Talk about intimidating: this is The Guy who told the world that our president had been assassinated.) But once inside the confines of that room in Stauffer Hall, Cronkite couldn't have been warmer and more accessible and my social anxiety quickly fell to the wayside. (The next thing I knew I was asking him what it was like to be on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"!) I left inspired and with a new sense of confidence, switching to the paper's urban affairs beat then landing a coveted internship on Capitol Hill the following year. Cronkite's unbridled enthusiasm for the professional was contagious and that afternoon remains one of the the highlight of my college years. And that's the way it is. RIP, Uncle Walter.

Some touching words from President Obama about the late newsman:

 

And Carly Simon, whose sister Joanna was Cronkite's partner in the years after his wife died