Clifton Garrick Utley (November 19, 1939 – February 20, 2014) was an American

television journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

. He established his career reporting about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and has the distinction of being the first full-time television correspondent covering the war on-site.

Early life

Utley was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He graduated from

Westtown School Westtown School is a Quaker, coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, 20 miles west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1799 b ...

, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

boarding school in Westtown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in 1957 and from

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

in 1961. His parents, Frayn and Clifton Utley, were correspondents for the

NBC Radio Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

in the mid-20th century, based in Chicago.

Career

NBC News

Utley joined

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

in 1963 as researcher in Europe for The '' Huntley-Brinkley Report'', where he became Foreign and Principal correspondent. Besides covering the Vietnam War, Utley reported from many other areas including stints as bureau chief in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He reported on events within the U.S. as well. Utley was also an anchor. He served as weekend anchor from 1971-1973, and frequently substituted for

John Chancellor John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in TV news. He served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to 1982 and continu ...

during that decade and for

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...

in the 1980s on ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

''. He also filled in for Bryant Gumbel as host of ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

''. Utley was news anchor for '' Sunday Today'' from 1987 to 1988 and frequently substituted for

Boyd Matson Boyd Matson (born April 26, 1947) is the former anchor of ''National Geographic Explorer'' and a former co-anchor of NBC's '' Sunday Today'' program. He was also an NBC News correspondent in the 1980s, working mostly on news features and earlier ...

and then co-anchored the program from 1988 to 1992. Utley also served again as main weekend anchor (Sunday initially and both Saturday and Sunday later) from 1987 to 1993 of ''

''. One noteworthy ''Nightly News'' broadcast Utley appeared on aired on January 22, 1973, the day the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

handed down its

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

decision. In the midst of that broadcast (fed to affiliates at 6:30 p.m.

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

), and just before reporting on the decision, news broke that former U.S. President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

had died. In the 1970s, Utley frequently hosted newsmagazine-style programs for

. In the UK he covered the February 1974 British General Election and appeared on the BBC election night program. In the US, from January 1989 to December 1991, he moderated NBC's long-running public affairs discussion program ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

,'' while simultaneously hosting the newly debuted Sunday version of the ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

''. In 1992, Utley issued a controversial commentary essay at the close of a weekend newscast, expressing a view that then-President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

should forgo reelection in the interest of the country.

PBS

For a time, Utley hosted the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

series ''

Live from the Met ''Live from the Metropolitan Opera'' (or: ''Live from the Met'') was an American television program that presented performances of complete operas from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network. Th ...

'', during which he introduced the televised performances and interviewed the participants during intermissions.

ABC News and CNN

Utley worked for

for 30 years before moving to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

as chief foreign correspondent in 1993. He later moved to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

in 1997, where he worked until 2002. He co-anchored CNN's coverage of the

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, during the early morning hours of September 12, 2001.

Later career

After leaving network television, Utley was a professor of broadcasting and journalism at the

State University of New York at Oswego State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York. SUN ...

and was senior fellow at the SUNY Levin Institute of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

in Manhattan, from which he retired as head in December 2011. He also co-hosted ''

America Abroad ''America Abroad'' was a monthly documentary radio program produced by America Abroad Media (AAM), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization. The program was distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) and broadcast on public radio sta ...

'' on

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

, a program which examines the United States' role and relationships in the world, and hosted

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

broadcasts on

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

. He authored ''You Should Have Been Here Yesterday'' (2000), a narrative of the growth of television news in the United States. Board service included The

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

(1993–2003),

(1983–2007), Public Radio International (1996–2008), the Board of Advisors of

Doctors without Borders Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

and Chairman of the American Council on Germany.

Death

Utley died on February 20, 2014, at the age of 74, from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

. He was survived by his wife, Gertje Utley ( Rommeswinkel); his brothers, David and Jonathan; and his sister-in-law,

Carol Marin Carol Marin (pronounced "''marine''") (born October 10, 1948) is a television and print journalist based in Chicago, Illinois. Career Marin began her journalism career in 1972 at WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee working as a reporter, anchor, and ...

, a long-time reporter at NBC station WMAQ.Versatile TV newsman Garrick Utley dies at 74
''The Washington Post''; accessed February 21, 2014.

References

External links

Profile
at ''

America Abroad Media ''America Abroad'' was a monthly documentary radio program produced by America Abroad Media (AAM), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization. The program was distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) and broadcast on public radio stati ...

'' * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utley, Garrick 1939 births 2014 deaths American male journalists American television news anchors Carleton College alumni NBC News people Writers from Chicago University of Chicago Laboratory Schools alumni Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Westtown School alumni ABC News personalities CNN people PBS people