“The Bronx is Where The Heart Is”, Gabe Pressman, Iconic American Journalist Dies at 93

© Joshua Bright for The New York Times Gabe Pressman in the newsroom of the NBC building in Rockefeller Plaza in December 2010.

Watch Gabe Pressman’s last piece he did on The Bronx below

Bronx born and raised Gabe Pressman, a legend in broadcast journalism who graced our television screens for over 60 years passed away today at the age of 93 literally working until the day he died.

Pressman was considered by many to be New York City’s first local TV reporters and he told the New York Times in 1998, “All I know, I was alone out there…I was the only one holding the mike.”

As far as his Bronx life, according the New York Times:

“Gabriel Pressman was born in the Bronx on Feb. 14, 1924, the son of Dr. Benjamin and Lena Rifkin Pressman. His father, a dentist, bought him a hectograph, an early duplicating device, to produce a family newspaper, and he wrote pieces about his grandmother’s sponge cake and a cousin’s first tooth. He started a newspaper at P.S. 35 in the Bronx, and at Morris High School was editor of the student newspaper and class president.

He attended New York University, majoring in history, and in the summers of 1941 and 1942 was a reporter for The Peekskill Evening Star. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and was a communications officer in the South Pacific. Back at N.Y.U., he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in 1946 before receiving a master’s degree in 1947 from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Gabe Pressman’s style of journalism was like no other. He was someone who didn’t just report the news but asked the complex questions and probed deeper underneath the surface of the story to get to the ever important WHY something happened.

Today is a dark day in journalism as we have lost one of the greatest ever.

Thanks for making The Bronx proud and never forgetting your roots.

Watch Gabe Pressman’s last piece on The Bronx which aired exactly two years ago (click arrow to watch full screen)

Ed García Conde

Ed García Conde is a life-long Bronxite who spends his time documenting the people, places, and things that make the borough a special place in the hopes of dispelling the negative stereotypes associated with The Bronx. His writings are often cited by mainstream media and is often consulted for his expertise on the borough's rich history.