Nation : Max Robinson, 49, Ex-ABC TV News Anchor, Dies From AIDS
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WASHINGTON — Max Robinson, the nation’s first black network television news anchor, died today at age 49 of complications from AIDS, a Howard University Hospital spokeswoman said.
It had been three years since Robinson worked regularly in television.
He earned his spot in broadcasting history in 1978 when he began co-anchoring the ABC Evening News from Chicago with Peter Jennings in New York and Frank Reynolds in Washington.
Often embroiled in controversy, Robinson left ABC in 1983 after making comments about the racist nature of news coverage. During an earlier stint as a local anchorman in Washington, he apologized on the air for firing a pistol into the ground outside his home.
Robinson last worked at WMAQ-TV in Chicago from March, 1984, until mid-1985, leaving to do free-lance work.
Robinson, a native of Richmond, Va., attended Oberlin College in Ohio and Virginia Union University. Married three times, he is survived by four children.
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