Emmy-Winning Veteran TV Reporter Gabe Pressman Dies At 93

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Emmy-winning TV journalist Gabe Pressman has died at the age of 93.

Pressman's longtime employer NBC New York announced his death Friday on Twitter.

In true Gabe Pressman fashion, he was still tweeting away about the importance of journalism in our democracy on Thursday, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported. He passed away in his sleep overnight in the city.

As CBS2 Political Marcia Kramer reported, Pressman had a long and proud career.

"I knew what I wanted to be when I was 8 years old. I wanted to be a newspaper man; a reporter," Pressman once said. "My father was very indulgent. He put a microphone in the bathroom, and I could broadcast into the family radio, which was in the living room."

Pressman launched his six-decade broadcast career after stints at New Jersey's Newark Evening News and the New York World Telegram and Sun.

He covered the 1956 sinking of the Italian oceanliner Andrea Doria, reports from Israel, riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Pressman also sparred with politicians including every mayor from Robert F. Wagner through Bill de Blasio.

Believed to be first local television reporter in New York City, Pressman received many, many awards and was a staunch defender of the First Amendment – working with the New York Press Club to help thwart any attempt to keep reporters from getting information.

A few years ago, he told CBS2's Kramer his First Amendment crusades were "important to the younger journalists, and the embryo journalists as well."

Watch: Gabe Pressman Gives Address On First Amendment, Free Press 

He starred for years at Inner Circle, a charity show that pokes fun at politics.

Colleagues and local dignitaries shared their memories and condolences on social media.

"New York journalism has lost a legend and a moral compass with the passing of our friend Gabe Pressman," Steve Scott, president of the New York Press Club, said in a statement. "A tenacious seeker of the truth, there was no greater defender of the First Amendment than Gabe Pressman."

"Gabe Pressman was a New York City treasure. He was a mentor to countless reporters doing vital work today. He'll be deeply missed," Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote on Twitter.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement saying in part, "Gabe Pressman always gave you the story straight, and always asked the tough questions that New Yorkers wanted answered. As people increasingly turned to TV for news, it was Gabe who became the most important and trusted face on New York City airwaves. He was a true pioneer in the industry."

"Mayors including Dinkins, Giuliani and Bloomberg would sometimes cringe as they saw Gabe, knowing that a tough question was coming," Schuck said. "A hard as nails reporter with a wonderful soft side. Gabe lent me and so many other reporters a helping hand over the years. He'll be greatly missed."

"Pressman was arguably the city's most fierce defender of the First Amendment and through his leadership of the New York Press Club and membership in the journalist Inner Circle organization he was a staunch opponent of anyone anywhere who might seek to muzzle a free press. And Gabe Pressman's fighting spirit will live on," WCBS 880's Rich Lamb said. 

The Bronx-born Pressman graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism.

The New York State Broadcasters Association inductee started working at WRCA radio in 1954. He went to WRCA's television side, now WNBC, in 1956.

In 1972, Pressman moved to WNEW-TV. He rejoined WNBC in 1980. 

Longtime reporter Tony Guida first worked with Pressman in 1971.

"He was indefatigable, he was inexorable. There was no way to stop Gabe when he was on the scent of a story," he told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell. "I once said to him in admiration, 'Gabe, you'd steamroller your own grandmother for a story.' And he kind of smiled."

Andrew Siff joined them at NBC New York 13 years ago.

"He always said, 'you had to ask the question, look 'em in the eye, and if they didn't answer, ask it again,'" he recalled.

In his amazing career, Pressman interviewed them all -- Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, President Harry Truman, Fidel Castro, the Beatles, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He even went to Woodstock, but his specialty was politics.

He leaves behind his wife, four children and eight grandchildren.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

In:
• Peter Haskell
• Rich Lamb