Former ABC News correspondent John McWethy died Wednesday
after crashing into a three while skiing at the Keystone resort.
McWethy, 61, was skiing fast on an intermediate trail when
he lost control and missed a turn. He then slid chest-first into a tree, Summit
County Coroner Joanne R. Richardson said, according to the Associated Press. He
was pronounced dead of blunt force chest injuries around 2 p.m. at Summit Medical
Center.
A 1969 graduate of DePauw University,
which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2002, McWethy was a correspondent
for ABC News from 1979 to 2003, according to a biography posted online. Since
2003, he had continued to act as a special correspondent for ABC.
During his career, he received five National Emmy Awards for
his participation in “World News Tonight” coverage of Sept. 11, 2001, ABC News’
millennium coverage, and individual reporting on Ross Perot, the Persian Gulf
War and the Soviet military. He also received an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award and an Overseas Press Club Award.
He was inside the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when a
hijacked passenger plane struck the building, and, in the aftermath, was the
network’s primary reporter in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
After his retirement, McWethy and his wife moved to Boulder, Colo.,
to be closer to ski slopes and golf courses, ABC News President David Westin
said in a statement, according to the AP.
“He was one of those very rare reporters who knew his beat better than anyone,
and had developed more sources than anyone, and yet, kept his objectivity.
Jack's work made the people he covered value him, respect him, and always know
that he would keep them honest. None of us will forget his memorable reporting
on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had to evacuate the Pentagon and then continued to
report live from the lawn nearby,” Westin said.
McWethy is survived by his wife, Laurie Duncan and two sons,
Adam, 28 and Ian, 24.
