Gabe Pressman Dies At 93; Was Local TV Legend

NEW YORK, NY – Gabe Pressman, a New York news legend who covered the city for more than 60 years and was a senior correspondent at WNBC News, died Friday morning in his sleep. He was 93.

Pressman, who reported on every mayor in New York since William O'Dwyer, was a fixture at City Hall and a mentor to generations of reporters.

A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, he first went to work for The Newark Evening News and then went overseas where he reported for The New York Times and Edward R. Murrow's program.

He first arrived at City Hall in 1949 as a reporter for the New York World Telegram and Sun. Seven years later, he made the move to television, signing on with WRCA, which would eventually become WNBC.

Except for a stretch in the 1970s when he went to WNEW, which years later became the Fox station in New York, Pressman spent his entire television career at WNBC.

When he took the job he was the first television reporter to cover New York full time.

Pressman quickly made an impression on the city that year when he provided live coverage of the sinking of the cruise ship Andrea Doria as it approached New York. Forty-six people were killed.

He anchored New York's first morning news program – a five minute show on WRCA that later became 10 minutes.

In 1963, when the city's newspapers went on strike, he and Jim Ryan hosted a half-hour evening news broadcast.

Tim Minton, who worked with Pressman for 13 years, told Patch Pressman had an authority that came not just from his seniority but from his professionalism, calling him a "seeker of truth."

Minton recalled being at a school press conference where the chancellor was being particularly evasive.

"I said to the chancellor, 'We would like a direct answer to that question.' Gabe turned to me in front of everybody and said, 'You don't speak for the press corps.'

"He then proceeded to instruct the chancellor to answer – because Gabe could and did speak for the press.

Minton says that Gabe "championed issues of press freedom, and chastised at least a half dozen mayors for failing to hold what Gabe believed were sufficient press briefings at one time or another."

Stuart Marques, a reporter who knew Gabe for 40 years, remembered being at an event at Zabar's a couple of years ago with Gabe, legendary public relations man Morty Matz, and Saul Zabar.

While the three of them were in their 90s, and Marques nowhere near that, he said Gabe and them were far sharper than he was.

"It was great to hear them talk about New York and all the wild characters they knew from 60 or so years earlier," he said. "They told such detailed, riveting stories and I kept thinking: they remember all this stuff from 60 years ago and I can't remember what I had for breakfast!"

Pressman's reputation for holding people accountable made a strong impression on many.

More than one reporter on Friday remembered Mayor Bloomberg's first press conference in 2001 when he refused to take follow up questions.

"Imperious," Pressman said as he left left after the presser.

Pressman, who was born in the Bronx where he attended Morris High School, is survived by his wife, four children, eight grandchildren, and numerous reporters he helped over the years.

Photo of Pressman on a stoop, taking notes at the funeral of Ed Koch, courtesy JoAnne Wasserman.

Photo of Pressman (l) with Mike Pearl and Sam Maull courtesy of Pearl.