Retired KTVU anchor Dennis Richmond, who sat in the anchor chair for the station's popular nightly news broadcast for over 30 years, has died.

Richmond reportedly died Wednesday at age 81 at his home in Grass Valley, California, with his wife Deborah at his side. "She was holding his hand until the end," KTVU reports.

Richmond had suffered a heart attack and a fall in late 2024, and his longtime co-anchor Julie Haener — who just retired last June — visited him in the hospital in December, and tells the station "he was a fighter."

"He held on for as long as he could," Haener tells KTVU. "He was so respected. This news is going to hit people really, really hard."

Dennis Richmond was a fixture on Bay Area televisions from 1976 to 2008, becoming one of the country's first Black journalists to anchor a major market newscast when he took the job. He had first joined the station as a clerk-typist in 1968.

He is also survived by co-anchors Barbara Simpson and Elaine Corral. His former co-anchor Leslie Griffith passed away in 2022.

As Bay Area News Group writes, "Richmond had a calm, no-nonsense demeanor and a rich baritone delivery. Over time, he became one of the Bay Area’s most trusted anchors and was regularly named the market’s most popular anchor in various viewer polls."

As he told the Chronicle in a 2010 interview, talking about covering the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, "People are going to look at you for direction. If you are excited and nervous, they are going to be excited and nervous. You have to be calm."

He added, "I had a marvelous career and outstanding colleagues whom I still love. Anchoring is for the young now. You won’t see any anchors [on air] as old as I was."

After retiring in 2008 and moving to Grass Valley, Richmond returned to the KTVU newscast for a brief segment in 2017 in conjunction with a breast cancer fundraising event. He also surprised Haener last June (see video below), making an on-air appearance to wish her well on her final broadcast.

Former Berkeley Mayor, now state Senator Jesse Arreguin writes on X, "Like so many people in the Bay Area, I fondly remember growing up watching Dennis Richmond on the news. He set the standard for journalistic excellence and integrity, inspiring generations of journalists. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten."