Bill Monroe dead at 90

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WDSU-TV (NBC) New Orleans reports the death of its first News Director, Bill Monroe, who went on to moderate NBC’s “Meet the Press” for nine years and serve as Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News. He was 90.


Monroe, a newspaper veteran, put the newly launched WDSU on the map as News Director with controversial editorials supporting the integration of New Orleans schools. He was hired by NBC News in 1961 and headed to Washington, DC. He became Bureau Chief and the second host of “Meet the Press,” succeeding Lawrence Spivak. Monroe moderated the weekly news panel from 1975 to 1984.

Monroe died Thursday morning (2/17) at a suburban Washington nursing home, WDSU reported, with his four daughters at his bedside.

“We express our sympathies to the family of our colleague, Bill Monroe. We are proud he served as our first news director and we strive every day to uphold the standard of journalistic excellence he established during his tenure with the station,” said WDSU President and General Manager Joel Vilmenay.