Veteran news anchor Richard Morecroft has died, aged 70.<\/p>\n
Morecroft presented ABC’s NSW 7pm news bulletin from 1983 to 2002.<\/p>\n
Before moving to Sydney, Morecroft presented the ABC News SA bulletin.<\/p>\n
He also hosted Letters and Numbers on SBS, as well as popular children’s current affairs show Behind the News on ABC.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson confirmed the death on Tuesday night, saying Morecroft had died “at a time of his choosing, on the south coast of NSW”.<\/p>\n
“He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was grateful to go peacefully, with his partner of 36 years, Alison Mackay, beside him,” they said in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n
“We are devastated to lose such a warm, generous and caring human and hope that all those who knew him, if only through their TV screens, will remember him fondly.”<\/p>\n
Hundreds have paid tribute to Morecroft on social media, with Australian Story presenter Leigh Sales describing Morecroft as a “gentle man”.<\/p>\n
“He was pure class in every way,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I consider myself a lucky person indeed to have been his friend.<\/p>\n
“I remember I started in the Sydney newsroom as a junior reporter … and he went out of his way to welcome me … touch base with me and to make sure that I was going OK.<\/p>\n
“Just an absolutely divine human being.”‘A big loss’<\/p>\n
Sales said Morecroft had been a “reassuring presence in people’s homes” for decades.<\/p>\n
“He was full of life, he adored nature, he loved art, he loved people, he was just kind and caring, through and through,” she said.<\/p>\n
She said she saw Morecroft about a month ago when he was “dealing with bad news in a very stoic way and dignified manner”.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a big loss,” she said.<\/p>\n
ABC managing director Hugh Marks said Morecroft was “one of the great broadcasters of his generation”.<\/p>\n
“His intelligence, warmth and professionalism, beamed into homes across Australia for almost two decades, made him a trusted presence in the lives of Australians and an enduring part of the ABC’s history,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and former colleagues.”<\/p>\n
ABC NSW 7pm News presenter Jeremy Fernandez said Morecroft was in person “as affable, generous, and clever as he appeared on-air”.<\/p>\n
“Richard was a model of how to wear success and popularity with grace and humility,” he said.<\/p>\n
“He didn’t let the business of news and media dim his love and enthusiasm for people, art, the environment, and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m so deeply saddened by his passing.”<\/p>\n
‘The newsreader’s newsreader’<\/p>\n
Former ABC News Breakfast presenter Michael Rowland said Morecroft was one of his role models.<\/p>\n
“I looked up to him enormously,” he said.<\/p>\n
“He was the newsreader’s newsreader.<\/p>\n
“When he said something, you absolutely believed him because it was heartfelt and that was something that he took with him until his final days.<\/p>\n
“You put Richard Morecroft in front of a TV camera, and you didn’t have to worry because he was the voice of authority.<\/p>\n
“Whether he was presenting a serious news bulletin or hosting a quiz show, he was the man.”<\/p>\n
ABC Radio Sydney listeners also paid tribute to the popular presenter, with one saying they grew up watching Morecroft on television.<\/p>\n
“I love the way he presented the news,” the listener said.<\/p>\n
“What a great guy he was.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran news anchor Richard Morecroft has died, aged 70. Morecroft presented ABC’s NSW 7pm news bulletin from 1983…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6905,486233,64,63,134,2733,5847,486230,486234,486231,486232],"class_list":["post-918157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abc-news","tag-abc-presenter-dies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-news","tag-richard-morecroft","tag-richard-morecroft-abc","tag-richard-morecroft-dies","tag-tv-presenter-ties"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}