Garrick Utley Versatile newsman dies at 74

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

Veteran TV journalist Garrick Utley, whose far-ranging career included anchoring duties as well as reporting from more than 70 countries, has died of cancer at 74, NBC said Friday.

Utley began at NBC News in 1963, and for three decades handled a wide variety of assignments. Early on, he reported from Vietnam on the escalating conflict. In later years, he moderated “Meet the Press.”

In between, Utley anchored “Weekend Today” and the Sunday “Nightly News,” as well as two different newsmagazines in two different decades with four different titles.

That was shortly after he had left NBC to be the chief foreign correspondent for ABC News. He reported for CNN from 1997 to 2002.

Born in Chicago in 1939, Utley was the son of Clifton and Frayn Utley, two pioneering journalists on local TV as well as other Chicago media outlets.

He is survived by his wife, Gertje.