About a thousand mourners joined to remember the life and work of Walter Cronkite yesterday at St. Bartholomew Church in Manhattan. Among those attending the funeral service were broadcasting luminaries (from left) Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Tom Brokaw, and Connie Chung.
(Kathy Willens/Associated Press)
Cronkite’s friends, family recall the passing of a legend, an era
About a thousand mourners joined to remember the life and work of Walter Cronkite yesterday at St. Bartholomew Church in Manhattan. Among those attending the funeral service were broadcasting luminaries (from left) Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Tom Brokaw, and Connie Chung.
(Kathy Willens/Associated Press)
NEW YORK - He reached tens of millions in his heyday, but here within the magnificent stone-and-brick church on Park Avenue, it was 1,000 invited guests - some famous, some family, all touched by their anchor - who bade farewell to Walter Cronkite.
As Andy Rooney used a cane to walk down the aisle of St. Bartholomew Church, it seemed clear that Cronkite’s generation, now fading from the scene, would miss him most of all.
Rooney’s voice broke as he began to speak yesterday, and the television curmudgeon was quickly overcome by emotion. He recalled meeting Cronkite, the United Press man, in London during World War II, when they would leave town during bombing raids and then return to file their stories.
“You get to know someone pretty well in a war,’’ Rooney said. “I just feel so terrible about Walter’s death that I can hardly say anything. He was such a good friend. Please excuse me - I can’t.’’ Rooney left the lectern.
The afternoon began under slate-gray skies as a dozen cameras recorded the arrival of CBS royalty - Les Moonves, Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer, Don Hewitt, Morley Safer, Steve Kroft, Harry Smith. They gathered in the front pew, while Dan Rather, who is suing the network over his departure from Cronkite’s old chair, sat somberly eight rows back. Colleagues and contemporaries from the other networks came to pay their respects to Cronkite, who died Friday at 92.
Sandy Socolow, Cronkite’s onetime producer, gave the crowd a lighter look at the journalistic war horse, dispelling any notions of legendary perfection.
In fact, he said, Cronkite once inexplicably blanked on saying his own name - he got as far as “this is’’ and had to be rescued by the control room, which cut away.
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