Unless someone finds an amazing cure, and soon, tonight will be the last newscast I anchor.
After twenty-five years as the steady voice of New York's evening news, Bill Ritter stepped away from the WABC anchor desk not in silence, but in candor — announcing on his final broadcast that early-stage Alzheimer's disease had brought his tenure to a close. At 76, the veteran journalist chose transparency over retreat, a decision shaped in part by having watched the same illness take his father decades earlier. In doing so, he transformed a personal ending into a public act of service, remaining at the station to report on the very disease now rewriting his own story.
- A 25-year anchor's final broadcast became an unexpected farewell when Ritter disclosed a diagnosis that left no room for the career to continue as before.
- The weight of the moment was deepened by a painful echo — Ritter's father died from Alzheimer's in 1998, the same year Ritter joined WABC, making the disease a shadow that has followed his entire tenure.
- Current medications are slowing the progression, but Ritter was clear-eyed on air: without a cure, the anchor desk was no longer his to hold.
- Rather than vanish from public life, Ritter is pivoting — staying within the ABC7 family to report on Alzheimer's and neurological conditions, turning lived experience into journalism.
- His departure raises larger questions about cognitive health, professional identity, and how public figures choose to face illness — with this case pointing toward openness over silence.
Bill Ritter delivered his final 6 p.m. newscast at WABC-TV on Friday evening the way he had delivered the news for a quarter-century — directly and without pretense. The 76-year-old anchor told his New York audience that he had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, and that unless a cure emerged soon, it would be the last broadcast he anchored. It was a rare moment of a journalist turning the same unflinching clarity on himself that he had long applied to the world around him.
Ritter had joined WABC in 1998 and built himself into a fixture of the city's daily life, anchoring the flagship 6 p.m. slot from 2001 onward. Before that, he had reported for the Los Angeles Times, worked at California television stations, and held positions with ABC News. His career was long and substantial. But the disease now reshaping it was not a stranger to him — his father had died from Alzheimer's that same year Ritter arrived at the station, after years of battling the illness.
His doctors have told him the disease is in its early stages and that treatment is slowing its progression. Still, Ritter was clear about the limits of what medicine can currently offer. The station's general manager, Marilu Galvez, praised his decades of service and confirmed that he would not be leaving entirely. Ritter will remain part of the ABC7 family, reporting on Alzheimer's and other neurological conditions — sharing his own experience and helping families find their footing with a disease that affects millions.
What makes his departure notable is not only the diagnosis itself, but the choice he made with it: to stay visible, to stay useful, and to let a painful personal chapter become something larger than himself.
Bill Ritter sat at the anchor desk at WABC-TV on Friday evening and told New York he was leaving. The 76-year-old veteran broadcaster, who had opened the 6 p.m. Eyewitness News broadcast for a quarter-century, announced during that final newscast that he had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. He spoke with the directness of a man who had spent his career delivering difficult truths to others, now turning that clarity inward.
Ritter joined the station in 1998 and began anchoring the 11 p.m. broadcast a year later. When he moved to the flagship 6 p.m. slot in 2001, he became a fixture in New York living rooms—the steady voice delivering the day's news through two decades of the city's life. He had also anchored the 5 p.m. broadcast for several years. Before WABC, he had built a substantial journalism career: reporting for the Los Angeles Times, working at television stations in California, and holding positions with ABC News.
On air, Ritter explained what his doctors had told him. The disease was in its early stages. Treatment was slowing its progression for now. But there was no cure, no guarantee of how long the current medications would hold the line. "Unless someone finds an amazing cure, and soon," he said, "tonight will be the last newscast I anchor."
The announcement carried a particular weight because Ritter knew this disease intimately. His father had died from Alzheimer's in 1998, battling it for years before his death. That same year Ritter had joined WABC. He had watched the illness claim his father while beginning the career that would define his professional life.
Marilu Galvez, the station's general manager, released a statement acknowledging what Ritter had meant to the newsroom and the audience. For decades, she said, he had covered the stories that mattered most to New Yorkers, doing so with integrity and heart. He had earned the respect of colleagues and the affection of viewers. But rather than disappear entirely, Ritter would remain part of the ABC7 family in a new capacity. He would report on Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions, focusing on their impact on patients and families. He would share his own experience and help others navigate the resources available to them.
The transition marks a rare moment in broadcast journalism—a prominent anchor stepping away not due to retirement or a move to another network, but because of a diagnosis that makes the demands of daily anchoring unsustainable. It also reflects a broader shift in how public figures approach serious illness: not in silence, but in service, using their platform and their story to illuminate a disease that affects millions. Ritter's next chapter at the station will be defined not by reading the news, but by reporting on the condition that has reshaped his own life.
Citações Notáveis
After a series of tests, my doctors have told me I have Alzheimer's. It's early-stage Alzheimer's, and they say the treatments I'm getting are keeping it at bay, for now.— Bill Ritter, during his final newscast
While he is stepping away from daily anchoring, he will continue to be an integral part of our ABC7 family, including sharing personal updates and providing resources to help others impacted by Alzheimer's.— Marilu Galvez, WABC-TV General Manager
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did he choose to announce this on air, in front of the camera, rather than in a statement?
Because that's who he is. He's spent twenty-five years delivering news to people. This is his news to deliver. There's integrity in that—in not hiding, in not letting someone else tell his story.
His father died from the same disease. Does that change what this moment means?
It deepens it. He watched it happen once. He knows what's coming, or at least he knows the shape of it. That's not abstract knowledge—that's lived knowledge. And now he's choosing to turn that into something useful.
The station kept him on, just in a different role. That's unusual, isn't it?
It is. Most people in his position would be quietly retired. But WABC recognized something: his value isn't just in reading a teleprompter. It's in his credibility, his voice, his ability to make people listen. Those things don't disappear because of a diagnosis.
What does it mean that he's going to report on Alzheimer's now?
It means he's not going to pretend this isn't happening. He's going to help other people understand what he's going through. That's a different kind of journalism—more personal, more urgent.
Do you think he knew this was coming?
Probably. You don't go through "a series of tests" without suspecting something. But there's a difference between suspecting and knowing. Once the doctors say it, it's real in a way it wasn't before.