New York: Bill Beutel, the longtime television news anchor and host of the show Eyewitness News of WABC-TV in New York for more than 30 years died on Saturday at his home in Pinehurst, North Carolina. He was 75.
Buetel died due to complications from a progressive neurological disorder, his wife, Adair, said.
Beutel, whose trademark signoff "Good luck and be well" closed WABC's nightly local newscast for more than 30 years.
"He proved you could be a tough newsman and a gentleman at the same time," WABC president and general manager, Dave Davis said on Sunday in a statement.
"He was never shrill, always measured, and universally respected-the original class act," Davis added.
Beutel, who won several Emmy awards and a Peabody award, began as a radio reporter in his hometown of Cleveland. He started working in television in 1962, appearing as a reporter for ABC national news and as an anchor for the local evening newscast.
After a stint as ABC's London bureau chief, where he worked with a young Peter Jennings, Beutel returned to New York to man the local anchor desk in 1970.
In 1975, Beutel was the first to host AM America the forerunner to Good Morning America, the networks national morning news show.
Beutel retired as anchor of Eyewitness News in 2001 but continued to report for the network for another two years. He even traveled at age 70 to do stint reporting on the civil war in Sierra Leone.
His survivors include his wife, sister, four children from a previous marriage and eight grandchildren.
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