Posted by (Photo l to r: Ernie Anastos, Ken Burns, and Tony Rossi at Christopher Awards ceremony)
“I hope to die young, but as late in life as possible.”
That quote from a Greek philosopher was a favorite of the legendary broadcaster and anchorman Ernie Anastos, who passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Ernie spent more than 40 years delivering the news on New York’s airwaves, but he also remained connected to The Christophers since befriending our former director, Father John Catoir, in the 1980s. The Christopher motto – “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” – resonated with Ernie, whose approach to life was always a positive one. That was evident to the guests at our Christopher Awards ceremonies, which Ernie emceed for many years, filling the room with his optimism and infectious enthusiasm.
Much will be written about Ernie’s professional accomplishments – and rightfully so, since there are many to choose from, including 30 Emmy Awards and nominations, the Lifetime Emmy Award, induction into the New York Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, and the Christopher Life Achievement Award. But Ernie, the human being, was even more impressive.
During a “Christopher Closeup” interview with me in 2016, Ernie recalled his formative years: “I grew up in a home where we were taught to feel good about life [by] my mom, my dad, and particularly my grandfather, who was one of the first ordained Greek Orthodox priests in America. He was a pioneer of the church. One of the first 100 ordained in this country… My grandfather passed away when I was about 12, 13 years old, [but] he gave me enough in those formative years. I saw that he was genuine about his calling.”
“He would walk out the door,” Ernie continued, “and he would have some fruit in his hand to go visit someone in the hospital. He would go to a neighbor’s house, and he would talk to people. He was a man who believed in all faiths. He brought people together. I remember in our home – because my grandparents lived with us – there would be meetings where he would bring in people from the Catholic faith, Jewish faith. He would just be open to making sure that we all understood that we came from the same source and that we were brothers and sisters and that we would love one another and respect one another. I learned that from him.”
It was in his grandfather’s extensive collection of books where Ernie first read the aforementioned quote by the Greek philosopher: “I hope to die young, but as late in life as possible.”
That idea, Ernie said, kept him feeling like “you have new things to go out and learn and grow and build and develop and to expand. It’s the spirit and the affirmation of life. It’s wanting to make sure that you never feel bored, that you always realize the magic and the newness and the freshness and the creation that we have in front of us, to be able to explore and to become everything that we possibly could be, and to learn from others…I honestly can tell you that in my heart, I feel like I’m still 16 years old when I had my first job working at that radio station back in New Hampshire. The excitement that I had of sitting behind that microphone and reading and recording and communicating, I still feel that way. It doesn’t matter how old I am, I’m still that kid inside, feeling that I just want to enjoy my life and to share it.”
Ernie’s road to being a broadcaster actually began at age 13 when his homeroom teacher, Miss Evelyn Ryan, gave the class a career day assignment to choose what field they might like to work in when they grew up. Ernie wasn’t sure what to pick, so he asked her for advice. She responded by asking what he liked to do in his spare time.
Ernie told her, “I have a little radio station that I built in my basement. I have a record player. I’ve got an old microphone. I go down there, and I play radio like I’m an announcer.”
Miss Ryan said, “Well, here’s what you have to remember. Whatever you enjoy doing will be the avenue to your success.”
Ernie took that advice to heart, and the rest is history. He went on to work at WABC, WCBS, WWOR and WNYW. He attributes his success to “attitude. When I’m on the air, people who watch me know that I am an approachable person because I reach out. I reach out into that camera and talk to people directly. I think that that’s what people sense about my feeling of being positive and wanting to share and wanting to listen to them and feeling compassionate and concerned about their life and how we can help to improve them.”
As much as Ernie tried to inject positivity into his work, the sad truth is that the news is often dark and bleak. How did he keep from becoming cynical when faced with those situations?
Ernie responded, “The good Lord has given us life. He’s given us a beautiful life for us to enjoy…We can turn it into something beautiful or something ugly. With my experience working in the news all these years, I’ve seen the injustices. I’ve seen the unfairness. I’ve seen the pain…I remember being on the air September 11th. I didn’t stop for months. We were on continuously. Going down to Ground Zero and meeting people, meeting the families and listening to their stories and reporting these stories and feeling what our city felt and what our country and what the world felt. These stories stay with you. Even to this day, we’ve had so many current events unfortunately that have happened, where you say to yourself, what’s wrong? How come we can’t find the solution here? How come we can’t come together? What’s missing and what can we do as individuals? What can we do to try and make this a better world? I think we all have that opportunity. We just have to find a way. We have to look for them.”
That search for the good is why Ernie remained connected to The Christophers. He observed, “Your organization, represents to me, the essence of what life should be. Lighting that candle and not cursing the dark.”
Ernie attributed his longevity in the TV news business back to his immigrant grandparents, noting, “As a result…I can relate to all of those different age groups. Especially now, since I’ve been married many years. My wife and I have raised two beautiful children and now we have grandchildren. The whole spectrum of living in a home with my grandparents, to me, gave me a foundation that created the feelings that I have now about doing what I do as an anchor and doing what I do as a human being, to be able to appreciate everyone. People of all walks, of all ages, of all ethnicities, of all races. I feel like I’ve been blessed to have that in my life.”
The people who got to know Ernie Anastos, either personally or on our TV screens, were also blessed to have him in our lives. Though we wish he could have had more years on this earth, we are grateful that his youthful attitude stayed with him all his days.
We send our prayers and condolences to Ernie’s family and friends. Eternal rest grant unto Ernie Anastos, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.
Video: Tony Aiello presents Ernie Anastos with the Christopher Life Achievement Award in 2016.
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