Bernard Shaw, a former CNN anchor, passed away on Wednesday from pneumonia unrelated to Covid-19 at a hospital in Washington, DC, his family reported on Thursday. Shaw was 82 years old.
Shaw served as CNN's initial chief anchor and was a part of the network on June 1, 1980, when it debuted. On February 28, 2001, he left CNN after working there for more than 20 years.
Shaw covered some of the most important news of the day during his illustrious career, such as the student uprising in Tiananmen Square in May 1989, the First Gulf War live from Baghdad in 1991, and the 2000 presidential election.
"CNN's beloved anchor and colleague, Bernard Shaw, passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Bernie was a CNN original and was our Washington Anchor when we launched on June 1st, 1980," Chris Licht, CNN Chairman and CEO, said in a statement Thursday.
"He was our lead anchor for the next twenty years from anchoring coverage of presidential elections to his iconic coverage of the First Gulf War live from Baghdad in 1991. Even after he left CNN, Bernie remained a close member of our CNN family providing our viewers with context about historic events as recently as last year. The condolences of all of us at CNN go out to his wife Linda and his children."
According to his family, Shaw's funeral services will be private for family and invited visitors only, with a public memorial ceremony scheduled for a later date.
"The Shaw family requests complete privacy at this time," cited in reports.