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Ernie Anastos, the veteran television news anchor whose steady presence and familiar voice made him one of the most recognized broadcasters in New York City for more than 40 years, died on Thursday morning at Northern Westchester Hospital. He was 82. The cause was pneumonia, his wife, Kelly, said.
Anastos anchored the evening news at four flagship New York stations—WABC-TV, WCBS-TV, WWOR-TV and WNYW (Fox 5)—across a career that earned him more than 30 Emmy Awards and nominations, including a Lifetime Emmy Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in writing. The New York Times once described him as “the ubiquitous anchorman.” He was widely recognized as the first Greek-American to anchor a major-market television newscast in the United States.
Yet within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the broader Greek-American community, Mr. Anastos occupied a role that transcended professional distinction. He was an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a lifelong parishioner of Holy Trinity Church in New Rochelle, N.Y., a Sunday School teacher in his parish, and a tireless advocate for Hellenism at every level of public life—from the Fifth Avenue parade reviewing stand to the quiet work of Church philanthropy.
His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America said: “Ernie Anastos was a faithful son of the Church, a man who carried his Orthodox faith and his Hellenic heritage wherever he went — whether in a television studio, a parish hall, or on Fifth Avenue during the New York City Greek Independence Day Parade. His loss is felt deeply throughout our Archdiocese. May his memory be eternal.”
Ernest Anastos was born on July 12, 1943, in Nashua, N.H. . He grew up in a multigenerational Greek household with his parents, grandparents and sisters, in what he later recalled as a home steeped in love, tradition and church life.
His paternal grandfather, Fr. Anastasios Anastasiou, was among the first Greek Orthodox priests ordained in America—a pioneer of the Church in this country. Anastos spoke of him often, and the priestly inheritance ran in both directions of his life: as a boy, he briefly considered the priesthood; his wife, Kelly, née Coutros, was the daughter of the Rev. Spyridon Coutros, who served the Greek Orthodox parish in Asbury Park, N.J., for more than four decades.
Mr. Anastos graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University in Boston, where he was a Phi Kappa Phi honoree and later served on the university board. He held honorary doctorates from Manhattanville College, Curry College and other institutions. In 2019, he left the Fox 5 anchor desk to enroll at Harvard Business School, where he pursued leadership and management studies.
He began his career in radio in Boston, working under the name Ernie Andrews at WROR and WRKO. In 1976, he moved to television as an anchor at WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I. Two years later, WABC-TV in New York hired him, and he became anchor of the 11 p.m. Eyewitness News broadcast, a position that placed him at the center of the nation’s largest television market. He remained at WABC for 11 years, a tenure that established his reputation.
In 1989, he moved to WCBS-TV, and over the next 15 years he also anchored at WWOR-TV before returning to WCBS. In 2005, he signed a contract with WNYW-TV, Fox 5, where he would anchor the evening news until his departure in 2019.
Across those decades, Mr. Anastos covered many of the stories that defined New York and the nation: the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; the death and funeral of Princess Diana; the death of John F. Kennedy Jr.; the Covid-19 pandemic; and from Cuba, Fidel Castro and the 45th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. He interviewed Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.
He also appeared as himself in several Hollywood films, including “Independence Day,” “Summer of Sam,” “The Yards” and “Run All Night.” He authored a book on American youth culture, “Twixt: Teens Yesterday and Today,” which was featured at the Smithsonian Institution and reviewed in The New York Times, and wrote a series of children’s books, “Ernie and the Big Newz,” with proceeds benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Even after leaving the nightly anchor desk, Mr. Anastos did not leave public life. He returned to the airwaves with “Positively America,” a nationally syndicated television program produced in association with Gray Television, and “Positively Ernie” on 77 WABC radio.
Among his other honors were the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s New Yorker of the Year Award, and a National Father of the Year Award. He was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Throughout his career, Mr. Anastos wore his Greek-American identity in plain sight. He travelled to Greece many times with his wife and children, making an effort to keep the connection through language, food and family ritual in their home.
He served as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In the last years of his life, his bond with the Greek-American community was visible in one of its most public settings: the Greek Independence Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. He served as Grand Marshal in 2010, returned as an Honorary Grand Marshal in 2023, and was among the parade’s participants again in 2024, riding with the WABC contingent and interviewing paradegoers amid the annual sea of blue and white.
Mr. Anastos married Kelly Coutros on Nov. 10, 1968, in a ceremony officiated by her father. The couple settled in Armonk, N.Y., and are survived by their daughter, Nina, and their son, Philip, as well as four grandchildren.
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