THE HAMPTON SHEET: This Issue: Features

We will always remember our Bridgehampton neighbor and friend, Peter Jennings. On Sunday evening, August 7, 2005, the anchor, senior editor, and public face of ABC News for over 20 years died at the age of 67 at his Manhattan apartment, after a valiant, four-month battle with lung cancer.

Peter had smoked on and off, heavily, till 20 years ago, and then after 9/11, confided that he "was weak," and smoked again. Just add that cancer risk factor to the stress of a 24/7 job that took him to nearly every major war zone and foreign capital and all 50 states for a front-row view of the world stage.

Ironically, in earlier years, Peter's reporting on the tobacco industry helped ensure that fewer children would start smoking. "The tobacco industry was changed in a way it wouldn't have been without Peter Jennings," said one producer.

His demanding lifestyle took a toll on Peter's personal life. He was married four times-to Valerie Godsoe; Annie Malouf; Kati Marton, ABC's former Bonn Bureau Chief and the mother of his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23; and his widow, Kayce Freed, a former 20/20 producer.

Kayce and Peter were active members in the Hamptons community, and opened their home for nine years straight for Jazz@Jennings, a benefi t for the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center.

At last year's Jazz@Jennings, Peter and Kayce presciently announced that it was the last year that they would be hosting the event. How could anyone have guessed that the very next June, the same musicians would return, to play for their weakened host-on the private occasion of his last birthday.

It's like the great Journalistic God in the Sky had decided to make a clean sweep of the airwaves. The last anchor standing among the Great Triumvirate (Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather, who had reigned for more than two decades), was struck down by a lightning bolt out of the blue.

Peter the Great was a combination of discipline and compassion-for people who were downtrodden and needy. After seeing the "third-world poverty" that existed just blocks from his studio, he became a tireless volunteer, serving hot food for the Coalition for the Homeless and chairing the group's annual ARTWALK, NY.

New Yorker writer Ken Auletta recalled that "at parties, [Peter] would notice the most vulnerable people in the room-a child, a spouse-go to that person and talk, ignoring the famous people."

Over the years, he was as at home interviewing heads of state as he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, hosting town hall meetings for children. "He wanted kids to grow up and want to know what was going on in the world," said ABC's Barbara Walters.

A supporter of the arts, Peter had been on the Carnegie Hall Board of Trustees since 1992, and annually anchored the opening-night broadcast on PBS. He had an irreverent sense of humor that tweaked the idiosyncrasies of others and had a deep sensitivity for friends in need. Many of his colleagues have gratefully acknowledged him as the first to call, from a foreign city, after the death of a parent or spouse, to ask, "What can I do?" Bob Schieffer, interim anchor on the CBS Evening News, said that Jennings was one of the first to call him-with congratulations-when he was named as Dan Rather's replacement.

Co-workers remember him as an inspirational and exacting leader whose control was absolute. Said Jon Banner, executive producer of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, "He edited everything. He wanted stories told simply and clearly."

Toronto-born, Peter was the son of the vice president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "From an early age, he knew he had to match or equal his father," said his sister, Sarah Jennings.

By age nine, he had his own children's radio show. At 17, he dropped out of school-a decision that left him insecure, insatiably curious, and doggedly determined to study, learn, and teach. He worked in radio news, hosted a dance show on CBC, and by 24, was co-anchoring the national Canadian news broadcast on CTV. While covering the 1964 Democratic convention in Atlantic City, NJ, an ABC exec hired him on the spot, based on "physical attributes."

"Peter was movie-star handsome. It just radiated," said ABC's Ted Koppel.

At just 26, Peter was anchoring a nightly newscast opposite CBS's Walter Cronkite and NBC's Huntley and Brinkley. He quickly realized that he was too unschooled and unseasoned, and asked ABC to let him roam the globe as a foreign correspondent. He got his "formal education" on the job- with the network paying the "tuition."

"I want to reach the point," said Peter, "where Cronkite will see me and say, 'He's a good broadcaster, a good communicator, a good human being.'"

In 1969, Peter set up ABC's Beirut News Bureau. Over the next seven years, he lived and breathed the Middle East, fighting to get the tough stories on the air.

Peter's live coverage at the 1972 Olympics of the Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists was breathtaking TV. "After Munich, a mystique clung to him like James Bond," said ABC News Correspondent Mike Lee.

By 1978, Peter was ABC's foreign anchor, broadcasting from London for World News Tonight. By1983, he had been named sole anchor in NYC, and "ended up falling in love with America," said ABC's Cokie Roberts.

"Peter changed the world around him, because of the importance of his reporting," said David Westin, president of ABC News. Perhaps his finest moment was his reporting on the Serbs' "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslims in Bosnia, in the early 90s. "There were people with guns who wanted to kill Peter," said one correspondent. "He didn't run for cover. It was that important-to tell the world about another genocide in Europe."

Added another, "Peter Jennings, more than anyone, saved Bosnia. It's one of his legacies."

Peter was a calm and steady voice through national crises such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the Challenger explosion. He was deeply disturbed when his painstaking efforts to present all sides of every story drew criticisms that he was pro-Arab, pro-Castro, anti-war (in Iraq), too liberal.

His biggest on-camera strength: The wisdom to sometimes remain silent-respectfully saying, "Let's just listen," as tragic events unfolded. During the week of 9/11, Peter logged a total of 60 on-air hours. "Within his voice was all our fear, hope, anxiety, and faith," said ABC's Diane Sawyer.

After 9/11, "he felt he needed to become a citizen," said Koppel, which he did, quietly, in 2003. He always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his back pocket, and was known to give copies to others.

"What you had was a complete package," said Koppel. "The man had background, a reserve of knowledge, and the ability to process it."

"His standards were the stratosphere," said retired CNN anchor Bernard Shaw.

During a memorial in the newsroom, the day after Peter died, hundreds of co-workers surrounded his empty anchor chair and applauded for three minutes straight.

How to carry on? "Be as caring, thorough, and passionate about our work as he was," said one colleague."

"No one of us could equal him, but as a group, we can try to carry on all of the things he taught us," said another.

"Peter was Peter Jennings right to the end, no whining," said NBC's Tom Brokaw. "He showed great courage, great resolve, great love for his family and for his colleagues. And that, too, is an important part of his legacy."

As he did his entire life, Jennings has led by example, teaching us all the way to live, and now die-with courage, strength, and dignity.