Journalist, author and presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill has died at age 61, PBS confirmed Monday.
Ifill, who was named co-anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewsHour” in 2013, moderated two vice presidential debates.
“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we must share that our dear friend and beloved colleague Gwen Ifill passed away this afternoon following several months of cancer treatment,” PBS said in a statement. “She was surrounded by loving family and many friends whom we ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers.”
In a note, “PBS NewsHour” executive producer Sara Just called Ifill “a standard bearer for courage.”
Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change,” the note read. “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.”
Like her PBS colleague Judy Woodruff, Ifill came to PBS via NBC News where she was chief congressional and political correspondent. She began her TV career after working as a White House reporter for The New York Times and as a local reporter for The Washington Post.
Two months ago, in a talk at Colorado College, Ifill told students about her experience of having been a debate moderator in the 2004 and 2008 elections. She told students “Every debate moderator tries to figure a way to get past the speeches.” She said she tried to think of ways to get beyond the prepared statements that candidates deliver day after day.
I came across a number, a statistic about African American, I mean HIV infection among African American women, sky-rocketing at the time. No one was talking about this. And I prefaced my question by saying, ‘You’ve both talked about AIDS in Africa, I want to talk about about AIDS in this country. Please don’t talk about AIDS in Africa.
What would you do if you were in this administration about sky-rocketing HIV infections among African American women?’ Very specific. Dick Cheney’s response was, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’ End of response. John Edwards’ response was, ‘Well let me give you my three-point plan for AIDS in Africa.’ I found out afterward from people who prepped him for that debate that that was the question they thought I was going to give them — an AIDS in Africa question.
As a moderator, she had to make a choice about whether to “chase them around the table,” to get an answer to her question, she said. But “I kind of made a decision as a moderator that the viewers at home had learned what they needed to know about this, which is that none of them knew or cared,” she said. “And I to this day, all these years later, still get people who walk up to me and say, ‘Loved that AIDS question.’”
President Obama told a White House news conference that Ifill was an especially powerful role model for young journalists.
Obama was the subject of a book Ifill authored eight years ago. “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the age of Obama” came out on Inauguration Day 2008.
Speaking for the First Family, Obama said, “Gwen was a friend of ours and was an extraordinary journalist.” He added, “I always appreciated Gwen’s reporting even when I was on the receiving end of one of her tough and thorough interviews.”
Journalists tweeted remembrances of Ifill’s life on Monday afternoon:
There are those of us who did not even think of doing this work until we laid eyes on #GwenIfill. 2/5
— audie cornish (@nprAudie) November 14, 2016
#GwenIfill started out interning in a Boston newsroom (they didn't make it easy for her). She knocked down door after door 3/5
— audie cornish (@nprAudie) November 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/dabeard/status/798242169949593600
https://twitter.com/dabeard/status/798244417584832512
https://twitter.com/amandalcormier/status/798242024801636352
Damn. Damn. Damn.
PBS newscaster Gwen Ifill has diedhttps://t.co/ncvfBvpkmE
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) November 14, 2016
Dang. Public media is essential. It was made better by Gwen Ifill. Journalism needs more like her. RIP. https://t.co/R7TN4BTADm
— Scott Leadingham (@scottleadingham) November 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/798244623982301184
Gwen Ifill, first-rate journalist and super person, @PBS news anchor, model of professionalism, is dead at 61. RIP https://t.co/GY2U6fUTyj pic.twitter.com/mAXMV8cwwq
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) November 14, 2016
PBS CEO Paula Kerger on Gwen Ifill: "Gwen was…a fundamental reason public media is considered a trusted window on the world."
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) November 14, 2016
Ifill was a champion of newsroom diversity: “We can’t expect the world to get better by itself,” she said. https://t.co/1yEaASqsvF
— Andrew Beaujon (@abeaujon) November 14, 2016
Spent 3 hours in a mini van with @gwenifill and @keithwj – I was so nervous b/c it was GWEN IFILL !!!
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) November 14, 2016
She was so kind and generous with her stories, we talked abt the racism she encountered early on in her career, about her moderating debates
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) November 14, 2016
about how much she was committed to the WORK.
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) November 14, 2016
She will be missed in so many ways. ❤️
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) November 14, 2016
Thank you for your work, Gwen Ifill.
— stacy-marie ishmael (@s_m_i) November 14, 2016
Al Tompkins and Ben Mullin contributed reporting to this story.
