John Drury

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John Drury
Born January 4, 1927(1927-01-04)
Aurora, Illinois, United States
Died November 25, 2007 (aged 80)
Occupation Anchorman
Reporter
Spouse Ann
Children Jim

John Drury (January 4, 1927 – November 25, 2007) was an anchorman from Chicago, IL. He appeared on both WGN-TV and WLS-TV. Upon his retirement came the news that he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was a leading activist for ALS research and was a spokesperson for the Brain Research Foundation.

Contents

[edit] Career

In 1955, Drury's broadcasting career began at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. He anchored and reported on the 10 p.m. news until leaving in 1962. [1]

He then joined WBBM-TV. He both anchored and reported news for them until 1967. During this time, he served as Fahey Flynn's first co-anchor.

Following his stint at WBBM-TV, Drury joined WGN-TV, where he served as the 10 p.m. news anchor until 1970. [1] He then switched over to WLS-TV for his first stint on the network. He anchored their news until 1979 before going back to WGN-TV to be their anchorman again.

Drury stayed at WGN until 1984 during which he won numerous awards such as the Chicago Father of the Year and also a Chicago Emmy awards for Individual Excellence in 1983. [1]

In August 1984, he rejoined WLS and took over the anchorman job for their 10 p.m. newscasts. He won two more Chicago Emmy awards for Individual Excellence in 1987 and 1988. [1] Drury retired in 2002 after 40 years in the business. [2] He won one more Chicago Emmy in 2003 for his news report, "9/11/02 The New Homeland."

[edit] Awards

  • Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame Induction - 1996
  • Chicago Emmy Award for Individual Excellence - 1983, 1987, 1988 and 2003 [1]
  • Illinois Journalist of the Year - 2002
  • Chicago Press Veteran of the Year - 2002
  • Chicago Father of the Year - 1983
  • Better Government Association's Distinguished Journalism Award - 1989
  • Silver Circle Award - 1996 [2]
  • John Drury Day - February 27, 2002 - Chicago: Mayor Richard M. Daley

[edit] Personal and Death

Drury was married to his wife, Ann, and had a son, Jim. He also had 10 grandchildren. [2] They lived in Wheaton, Illinois. He died at 7:34 pm, on November 25, 2007 in his home in Wheaton, surrounded by his family.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e John Drury's ABC7 Bio. ABC7Chicago.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
  2. ^ a b c Brain Waves Vol. 7 No. 2. brainresearchfdn.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
  3. ^ Longtime Chicago Anchorman, John Drury Dies

[edit] External links

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