New York City journalist David Diaz was lovingly known as the “reporter reporter” for decades, bringing news to Big Apple residents.
He was 82 years old.
Trailbazing On-Air's talents covered 9/11, the presidential election, and other major news news events throughout CBS 2 for about 30 years across the five autonomous boroughs of NBC 4 and across the country.
The former colleague recalled that he was always trying to help others on Monday with him as a mentor.
“Reporter: The Man of New York City” CBS Evening News Anchor Maurice Dubois He was called Diaz in honor at the station. “Hard Scrabble, you know, I wanted to lift myself up and lift others too.”
CBS News Anchor Mary Calbi added that longtime broadcast reporters “knowed New York as most journalists know.”
“He was a perfect expert and a charming and attractive man,” she said.
The cause of the death has not been revealed, but Diaz's family told the station before him that he suffered from a form of dementia that made it more difficult for him to communicate as he grew older.
The newspaper reporter was born in Puerto Rico in 1942 and later moved to Washington Heights, Manhattan Upper Manhattan as a toddler. According to CBS, he graduated from Fordham Prep and then City College and earned a Masters degree from Columbia University.
He worked as an activist and a printing reporter before NBC 4 took him on for 15 years. CBS 2 then hired him, where he spent over 12 years before retiring in 2015.
After his news career, Diaz taught future journalists as a way to give back.
He was a lecturer at Cuny and, according to his LinkedIn profile, he taught mass media, politics and journalism.
Diaz won five Emmy Awards and was the first Hispanic anchor on New York's leading television station. According to a 2017 advertisement by Cuny, It gave him an honorary degree at the time.
“I met David Diaz when I was a print reporter for the first time and went on complicated trips to South and Central America,” CBS political reporter Marcia Kramer said in a station tribute.
“He could take this complicated story in multiple locations, cut the field and get into the news every night. He did it and make it look incredibly easy.”
2008, He told the Daily News He suffers from health issues, including sinus problems and headaches, resulting from ground coverage at Ground Zero following terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
He leaves behind his wife Andrea, two daughters and a son-in-law.
