{"id":267619,"date":"2026-06-15T18:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/267619\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T18:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:32:07","slug":"abc-new-york-anchor-bill-ritter-reveals-alzheimers-signs-he-noticed-2-years-pre-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/267619\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC New York anchor Bill Ritter reveals Alzheimer’s signs he noticed 2 years pre-diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Ritter started \u201cforgetting people\u2019s names and places\u201d two years before his Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ABC New York anchor \u201cdidn\u2019t know why this was happening,\u201d so he stepped away from the channel\u2019s 11 p.m. and 5 p.m. newscasts, he told \u201cGood Morning America\u201d viewers<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n

While only doing the 6 p.m. show allowed the 76-year-old to get \u201ca decent night\u2019s sleep \u2026 for the first time in 25 years,\u201d his symptoms weren\u2019t \u201cgetting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Ritter (seen above) began experiencing Alzheimer\u2019s symptoms two years before his diagnosis, he said on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d Monday. ABC<\/p>\n

The news anchor (seen above with other journalists) recalled forgetting \u201cpeople\u2019s names and places\u201d during Monday\u2019s interview. ABC<\/p>\n

It was then that Ritter knew he had to \u201cget tested.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled, \u201cThat really was an important thing. A lot of people say, \u2018I\u2019m fine, don\u2019t worry about it, I\u2019m going to be fine.\u2019 No. You gotta go do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritter, who went public with his diagnosis on Friday while announcing his retirement, said his \u201cfirst reaction\u201d to the results was his dad \u201cpopp[ing] into [his] head.\u201d<\/p>\n

The symptoms did not improve when Ritter (seen above) scaled back his job and got \u201cdecent\u201d sleep. ABC<\/p>\n

At that point, the journalist (pictured above on May 12) made the \u201cimportant\u201d decision to get tested. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ritter\u2019s father, notably, died of the same disease in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen a couple of seconds later, I was scared,\u201d Ritter remembered. \u201cI don\u2019t mind saying that. It was scary. Because it was like, \u2018Wait a minute, I\u2019m supposed to be doing this. What\u2019s going on here?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI quickly moved into husband\/dad place,\u201d the journalist continued. \u201cBecause Alzheimer\u2019s really affects the family most. As a dad and a husband, I said, \u2018I gotta deal with this. This is my family. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m really worried about.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old (seen above) admitted to being \u201cscared\u201d and praised his \u201cbrave\u201d family members. ABC<\/p>\n

Ritter (pictured above in August 2012) is \u201creally worried\u201d about his loved ones. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He called his loved ones \u201cthe brave ones\u201d in the tragic situation.<\/p>\n

When Ritter shared his diagnosis on Friday, he said, \u201cSpending more time with my family has now become even more important, because my life has taken a turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThe treatments I\u2019m getting are keeping it at bay. For now. But there is no guarantee, because there\u2019s no cure yet for Alzheimer\u2019s. So, unless someone finds an amazing cure, and soon, tonight will be the last newscast I anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritter (pictured above in February 2009) revealed his diagnosis in his retirement announcement Friday. WireImage<\/p>\n

He (pictured holding a cake in February) is \u201cgoing to so miss reporting the news.\u201d abc7ny\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Ritter, who has been at WABC since June 1998, is \u201cgoing to so miss reporting the news.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will, however, continue working with \u201cEyewitness News\u201d\u00a0to help cover Alzheimer\u2019s disease \u2014 a special \u201copportunity\u201d he addressed on \u201cGMA\u201d Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this interview, I\u2019m going to go to our Monday morning meeting at 9 a.m. \u2026 and then I\u2019m going to go to my desk and have Day 1 of the new job,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cAnd that will be to bring people into the tent, because I think that\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Ritter started \u201cforgetting people\u2019s names and places\u201d two years before his Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis. The ABC New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3732,29762,6551,191,157,19809,39987,9,24,55,54,16824,56,1869],"class_list":["post-267619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-abc-news","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-brains","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-journalists","tag-mens-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news-anchors","tag-ny","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}