TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
ists Hall of Fame in 2007; •
He began his news reporting career in Philadelphia at the Phila- delphia Independent newspaper and at radio station WHAT-AM. During this time, he also worked as a teacher in the Philadel- phia public school system which he found unfulfilling. His first breakthrough into TV news occurred in 1968 as a reporter for Philadelphia’s WKBS-TV. In 1969, Vance moved to Washington, DC where he lived for the remainder of this life and joined NBC affiliate WRC-TV Channel 4. After three years at WRC-TV, he moved to the anchor’s chair, becoming one of the nation’s first African-American news anchors in major news markets. Starting in 1976 to 1980, Sue Simmons and Vance formed one of the first African-American TV news co-anchors in a major metro- politan market. With WRC-TV, Vance covered the inaugurations of 12 U.S. presidents and all seven of the District of Columbia's mayors. He and his long-time broadcast partner, Doreen Gentzler, spent nearly 30 years delivering the highest rated local news programs in the Washington, D.C. TV market. "Jim and Doreen" were one of the longest-running anchor teams in the country. The “Jim and Doreen” nightly broadcasts frequently achieved higher ratings in the Washington, D.C. market competing shows on CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Professionally, Vance was known for covering the day’s news in a comforting, matter-of-fact manner that provided ease to his audi- ences even during the most difficult on-air live stories such as the Hanafi Muslim siege of 1977, where a radical sect seized three buildings and took almost 150 people as hostages. Two people were killed, and others including future D.C. mayor and longtime Vance friend Marion Barry, then a D.C. Council member, were shot and wounded. He was recognized with a local Emmy for anchoring NBC4’s live newscasts of the January 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 aircraft which crashed in the freezing waters of the Potomac River and killed 78 passengers. Recalling that airline disaster, Vance recalled: “I was on the air all day. It was one of those days when you don’t have scripts, you don’t have rundowns, you don’t have anything except ‘Let’s do some good television.’ ”Vance also provided opin- ioned commentaries from his Vance’s View segments. Vance did not shy away from expressing his viewpoint on controversial topics and issues in these segments. Along with his career professional achievements, Vance was can- did with his audience about his long battle with chemical depen- dency. Vance commented in a 2011 magazine interview, “When cocaine almost killed me and I left here in 1984 to go to the Betty Ford Center. I got boxes and boxes of letters from people say- ing little more than ‘I’m praying for you.’” He was one of the first people troubled D.C. Mayor Marion Barry sought for advice after being arrested on drug charges in 1990. Vance recalled about Barry at the time, “Why did he ask me? Because what he, like everyone else who’s been around Washington for a while knows, is that for more than four years I have been in recovery. The mayor thought that I might be able to advise him. I did so.” An enor- mous personal achievement for Jim Vance is his finally defeating his addiction. Among his many other achievements, Vance was: • Honored with nearly 20 Emmy awards; • Inducted into the National Association of Black Journal-
Inducted into the National Alumni Hall of Fame
of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 2008; •
Awarded the Ted Yates Award for outstanding
community service; •
Inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1991; • Named “Washingtonian of the Year” by the Wash- ingtonian Magazine in 1976; • Added to a mural of images of noteworthy indi- viduals to a wall bordering the legendary DC eatery Ben’s Chill Bowl. He had a brief cameo playing himself in the 2009 movie “State of Play” and also appeared in the NBC shows “The Event” and “The Blacklist” in 2010 and 2013 respectively. A memorial service filled with music and laughter honor- ing Vance was held on September 12, 2017 at the historic Washington National Cathedral. A line of Harley-David- son motorcycles lined the plaza in front of the cathedral, and jazz filled the cathedral. In addition to family, the attendees to the memorial service was a who’s who from Washington’s broadcasting and political elite including his NBC4 team members and former colleagues, former BET host Donnie Simpson, Chris Matthews, Katie Couric, Wil- lard Scott, Mayor Muriel Bowser, former attorney general Eric Holder and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen. Former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs and CBS Sports broadcaster and Wash- ington, DC native James Brown provided videos tributes to Vance. Dozens of Kappa Men attended the service to pay their respects to Vance. Led by Brother Kenneth “QP” Hamilton (Gamma Omega 1961), Vance’s line brothers from the Gamma Omega’s Soulful 7 entertained with humorous remembrances of Brother “Recline” as Hamilton informed the audience. According to Hamilton, he named Vance his fraternity nickname of “Recline” because Vance “was so cool and laid back”. A separate memorial for Vance was held in his hometown of Ardmore, PA. A 56-year member of the Kappa Alpha Psi®, Vance was also an active member of the Greater Washington Urban League which released the following statement upon news of his passing: "There is a great cloud of sadness over the region upon learning of Jim’s transition," said Greater Washington Urban League President and CEO George H. Lambert, Jr. "We had known about his challenges with cancer, but we also knew that Jim was always a fighter and that if there was anyone who would defeat it, it was Jim Vance." Endlessly cool wearing an earring in honor of his late friend Ed Bradley, Vance was preceded in death by his parents, and first wife Margo L. Vance (deceased). He is survived by life partner Christina Eaglin, former wives Bar- bara Schmidt-Vance and Kathy McCampbell; daughters, Dawn and Amani Vance; son, Brendon Pinkard (Hanoi); grandchildren, Drew Adams, Sloan and Gavin Pinkard.
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
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