Award-Winning NY1 Anchor Ruschell Boone Dead At 48

NEW YORK CITY, NY — Ruschell Boone, an Emmy award-winning journalist and NY1 anchor who worked at the station for decades, died Sunday due to complications of pancreatic cancer, NY1 said in a tribute Tuesday. She was 48.

"For 21 years, Ruschell was a member of our staff, as well as a friend and mentor to many," the station's staff wrote. "She also had so much love from her other family: the generations of NY1 colleagues who relied on her for friendship and advice, and some straight talk when it was needed."

Born in Jamaica, Boone immigrated to the Bronx with her family when she was 11 years old. She attended Harry S. Truman High School and then Baruch College, where she stumbled into journalism by accident.

"When she was a senior in college, a classmate missed their radio slot, giving her the opportunity to jump in," NY1 wrote. "This was the beginning of what became her life’s work, telling the stories of New Yorkers."

Boone joined NY1 in 2002 as a Queens reporter; her areas of coverage ranging from police misconduct to Hurricane Sandy and everything in between.

"Ruschell was all over Queens, pounding the pavement and following up, no story too big or too small," according to NY1. "Ruschell had a unique ability to connect with New Yorkers — through the screen and in person — in a way that made her feel like a trusted friend. Highlighting the city’s diverse communities was always a priority."

After two decades as a boots-on-the-ground reporter, Boone took on the anchor desk in 2021. Around the time she celebrated her 20th anniversary at the station, Boone received a devastating pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Through it all, she shared updates of her fight with the community who had grown to love her.

"Wherever Ruschell was, she always made time to laugh, to dance, and to celebrate life," according to NY1. "A mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a journalist, a Jamaican-American, a true New Yorker, Ruschell leaves behind a rich and loving legacy for her family, her friends and her city."