News anchor Hugh Downs dies

After a seven-decade career that involved 10,000 hours in front of a camera, newsman Hugh Downs died on Wednesday. He was 99. His two children, Hugh Raymond Downs and Deirdre Lynn Downs, survive him, along with two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

What was his legacy? Despite initially thinking of television as a “gimmick,” Downs would host and co-host several high-profile shows and earn an Emmy award. He started in radio, then worked on a puppet show in 1949. He hosted the popular 1960s game show Concentration, NBC’s Today show, and Over Easy on PBS. He retired in 1999 after 21 years of anchoring ABC’s 20/20 with Barbara Walters but continued working on documentaries and specials.

Dig deeper: Read an article Hugh Downs wrote for Guideposts in 1966.