Pressman fondly remembered
THROUGH THE laughter and tears, Gabe Pressman’s admirers rose to laud the ultimate New York newsman: a peerless reporter, a First Amendment defender — and a true mensch.
A memorial service Tuesday drew family, friends and fellow journalists as speaker after speaker paid homage to the man who served as the gold standard in television journalism for six decades.
“In my judgment, at least, Gabe Pressman was the quintessential reporter of our time,” said former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw. “He always got to the essence of the story.”
At one point during Brokaw’s remembrance, a piece of confetti floated down from the ceiling above.
“That might be Gabe’s presence in here,” Brokaw ad-libbed to the audience’s delight.
Two former NYPD commissioners, Bill Bratton and Raymond Kelly, delivered their remembrances of the ubiquitous reporter in the rumpled corduroy suit.
“Gabe was at so many crime scenes that if he wasn’t a reporter, he’d be a suspect,” Kelly joked. “Gabe was New York’s Boswell. He was omnipresent. It didn’t happen if Gabe Pressman wasn’t there to report it.”
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, former Gov. George Pataki and ex-Mayor David Dinkins joined Brokaw’s wife, Vera, and his children at the heartfelt memorial, which was attended by about 175 people.
“He was a journalist of the first order,” said Dinkins, who turns 90 next month, as he left the memorial. “I liked him a lot.”
The iconic Pressman died Friday at 93. WNBC-TV colleague Chuck Scarborough noted that many in the newsroom expected the veteran broadcaster to live forever.
“In many ways this gathering seemed surreal,” said Scarborough. “I came in and (WNBC reporter) Andrew Siff asked me, ‘How many times can you say in your life that you’re shocked by the death of someone who’s 93?’ ”
The memorial was held inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home to the WNBC offices — and to Pressman since his arrival in 1956. Pressman’s children, Mark, Liz and Michael, all recalled roaming around the newsroom as kids.
Former NBC executive Al Jerome, after labeling Pressman “the Joe DiMaggio of television news,” recalled rehiring Gabe in 1980 after the news veteran had jumped to WNEW-TV — a station that later became a Fox affiliate.
“If I didn’t bring him back, he might have been at Fox News,” Jerome cracked. “That might have lasted a minute and a half.”
In addition to his work as a reporter, Pressman was remembered for his tireless efforts to protect the First Amendment. But Pressman had a softer side, too.
“There were two personalities with Gabe,” said Brokaw. “As a reporter, he was angry and aggressive. But as a human being, he was a total mensch.”
The show ended with members of the Inner Circle, a reporters group that produces an annual satirical show, singing, “We’ve got you Gabe” — to the tune of the old Sonny and Cher hit “I Got You Babe.”