Jim Vance

James Howard "Jim" Vance III (January 10, 1942 – July 22, 2017)^[1] was an American television news anchor in Washington, D.C.

Early life

Born on January 10, 1942,^[2] Vance grew up in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia.^[3] His father, James Vance Jr., was a veteran of World War II.^[3] James Vance Jr. died of cirrhosis of the liver when his son was nine years old.^[3] "When my old man died, I was convinced that it was my fault. I was convinced I was such a piece of shit that he'd rather die than hang out with me," Jim Vance later said.^[3] His grandparents raised him while his mother, Eleanor, lived and worked in Philadelphia.^[3] Vance felt his mother had abandoned him, and he kept a lot of resentment against his mother for decades.^[3]

As a teenager, Vance wanted to be a plumber like his grandfather, but his grandparents encouraged him to attend college.^[3] Vance earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education from Cheyney University, a historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania.^[4] Vance was friends with Ed Bradley at Cheyney University.^[3]

Career

Vance began his news career as a reporter for the Philadelphia Independent newspaper and WHAT-AM radio station,^[5] while simultaneously teaching English for three years.^[6] A friend mentioned that WKBS-TV was searching for someone for their newly started news operation, and Vance suddenly realized he was working in the wrong profession.^[7] Vance worked as a reporter for WKBS for one year^[8] and was then hired by Washington's WRC-TV in 1969.^[8]

In 1972, Vance became WRC-TV's main co-anchor, as one of the first African Americans to serve in this position at any American television station.^[9] The station received a lot of hate mail when Vance was promoted to co-anchor.^[3]

Between 1972 and 1976, Vance worked as co-anchor with Glenn Rinker at WRC-TV.^[10] Between 1976 and 1980, Vance co-anchored with Sue Simmons, a pairing that resulted in one of the first, if not the first, African-American co-anchors of a major market newscast.^[11]

Beginning in 1989, Vance was part of the longest-running anchor team in Washington television, alongside co-anchor and health reporter Doreen Gentzler. In the nation’s capital, Vance’s 11pm newscasts with Gentzler regularly drew more viewers than the prime-time shows of the three major cable networks, combined (CNN, Fox and MSNBC).^[1] He is famous on the Internet for appearing in a video with sports anchor George Michael where they laughed uproariously at a model who fell twice on a runway. ^{[12] [13]}

Vance had an extremely brief cameo as himself in the 2009 movie State of Play. Vance also appeared as himself in a 2010 episode of the NBC series The Event and in a 2013 edition of another NBC series, The Blacklist. ^[14]

Awards and honors

Vance earned 19 local Emmy Awards. One of the Emmy awards was for his coverage of the 1977 Hanafi Siege of three buildings in downtown Washington, D.C.^[15] Vance earned another Emmy award for his coverage of the January 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 in the Potomac River, which killed 78 people, and a Metrorail train derailment the same day, which killed three people.^[1] He was also recognized as anchor and reporter for extended news coverage of Super Bowl XXII.^[16]

Vance also received multiple Emmy Awards for Outstanding News Anchor in 1987^[17], 1991^[18], 1997, 1999, and 2011. He also received a 1999 award as producer and reporter for WRC-TV's News4 at 6 broadcast. In 2014, Jim Vance received the Board of Governor's Award for outstanding achievement and community service.^[19]

Vance was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame on August 10, 2007.^[20] Vance was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian magazine in 1976.^[21]

Personal life

Jim Vance lived in Silver Spring, MD. Vance was married briefly for 10 months, to Margo L. Vance (deceased 2014) when he was 19 and has a daughter Dawn from that marriage. A second marriage to Barbara Schmidt-Vance also ended in divorce in the mid-1980s. In 1987, he married his third wife, Kathy McCampbell Vance, a television producer and former WRC-TV executive.^[22][23] His other two children are daughter Amani (b. 1972), from his second wife, and son Brendon (b. 1976). He has two grandsons and one granddaughter.^[24]

Vance battled a cocaine addiction in the late 1970s and early 1980s, later going public with the ordeal.^[21][22] Vance checked into the Betty Ford Center in 1984.^[22] One night in 1987, Vance sat on the ground by the Potomac River at Great Falls, and he stuck his bird-hunting shotgun in his mouth and considered pulling the trigger.^[3] Vance stopped, lowered the shotgun, and cried.^[3] College friend Ed Bradley encouraged him to seek therapy,^[3] and Vance went for help at a dingy downtown support group "full of old-school drunks" the next day.^[3] In 2014, Vance spoke about his mother's verbal abuse of him as a child, and he advocated against that form of discipline.^[25]

Death

In May 2017, Vance revealed he was battling cancer, but he said he would continue working through treatment.^[26] Vance died peacefully in his sleep at 7:20am on July 22, 2017 with his daughter Amani by his side. He was 75.^[27] At the time of his death, Vance was the region's longest-serving television news anchor with more than 45 years at WRC-TV.^[27]

References

External links

• Jim Vance bio at nbcwashington.com