Legendary Boston news anchor Chet Curtis dies at 74

Chet Curtis, who was a fixture on television in Boston for decades, has died. The legendary WCVB-TV anchor was 74-years-old.

Curtis was best known as one-half of the married duo “Chet at Nat.” Starting in the 1970s, Curtis co-anchored WCVB broadcasts with Natalie Jacobson, his wife. The Boston Globe notes that the two were the first married couple to anchor a newscast in one of the country’s top markets. Their popularity spiked in the 1980s and early 1990s, when WCVB started topping WBZ and WGBH.

While at WCVB, he helped launch the network’s famous Chronicle, a local newsmagazine program.

By the mid-1990s, the TV news landscape had changed and the ratings started to decline. The couple separated in 1999 and Curtis moved to New England Cable News in 2001, where he continued reporting.

Curtis died Wednesday night following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Bob Keating, NECN’s executive news director, told The Associated Press that Curtis’ daughter confirmed the news.

Curtis was born in Amsterdam, New York and started broadcasting when he was just 15. He worked in Washington D.C. and New York before moving to Boston in 1969.

“Chet Curtis was much more than an extraordinary journalist. He was a generous mentor and sincere friend to so many here at WCVB," Bill Fine, WCVB-TV President and General Manager.said in a statement to the Boston Herald.

He is survived by his daughters, Dana Curtis Keep, Dawn Curtis Hanley and Lindsay Curtis Wynalek; grandchildren; and long-time partner Kerry Kristine.

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