News: Former CBS Newsman Dies on LI
(Long Island, N.Y.) The former CBS Newsman, Richard Threlkeld, was killed Friday morning in a car accident on Long Island. The seventy-four-year-old had worked for CBS for more than twenty-five years, reporting on both the evening and Sunday morning news. He also reported for ABC news before returning to CBS.
The accident occurred between eight and eighth-thirty in Amagansett. Threlkeld had been traveling north on Cross Highway when his Mini Cooper collided with a propane truck. The driver of the truck was a fifty-four-year-old man from Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
According to the East Hampton Town Police, who responded to the scene, Threlkeld was rushed to Southampton Hospital where he was pronounced dead. They had been asking for any witnesses to the crash, which is still under investigation. Threlkeld was a resident of East Hampton.
Threlkeld was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and later studied journalism at Northwestern University. After a lengthy and memorable reporting career in broadcast news, he retired in 1998. According to reports, he is known for being the most experienced journalist in combat broadcast.
He was a pioneer journalist of the Persian Gulf War, and reported live from the front during ground combat operations. He also reported from the Kuwait-Iraq border and from Kuwait City immediately after it had been liberated.
Threlkeld was a reporter, anchor, and bureau chief during coverage of the Vietnam War. In 1975 he was the last reporter to be evacuated when the Vietnamese cities were taken by Communist forces. He was also among those who covered the United States occupation of Panama and Grenada.
Survived by his wife of twenty-eight years, two children, and two grandchildren, Threlkeld will be known for his reporting on the Patty Hearst kidnapping and trial. His coverage of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination and execution of Gary Gilmore is also memorable. Threlkeld was a reporter for the Barry Goldwater/Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton presidential campaigns.
