Jerry Taff (born September 9, 1940) is an American former television

anchorman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet ...

for

WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

.Tim Cuprisin, "Jerry's Last Tomorrow" '' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', May 23, 2005, at 1E. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E74aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZUUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6451,2456788

Early life

Taff was raised in Lamesa, Texas. And he also lived in

Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is fifty miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Caddo County. History Anadarko got its name when its post of ...

in the 1940s. His aunt and uncle had a small grocery store south of the school. Taff was a son of Doris and E.B.Teaff. He dropped this letter "e" from his surname around 1969. He worked in his grandparents' grocery store which was named Allen's Grocery. Jerry then worked as a bookkeeper at the Cameron Lumber Company, and served in the US Air Force. His family was living in Anadarko Oklahoma from 1942 to 1945, and then they moved to Texas. In 1958 Taff graduated from Lamesa high school and then received a degree in government from

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

in Lubbock in 1962.

Media career

He began working in the media at 17, when he worked at

KPET KPET (690 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Lamesa, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Dawson County Broadcasting LLC/DCB License Sub LLC. The station's 280-foot tower is located at the south edge of the city of Lamesa. FM ...

in Lamesa. He went on to work at stations in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

WTNH-TV WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), ...

, Flint, Michigan at

WJRT-TV WJRT-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Flint, Michigan, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for northeastern Michigan. Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on Lapeer Road in Flint, with of ...

and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

WFAA-TV WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29) ...

.http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/tafftalks.html?viewall=1 While working in Flint, Taff covered the story of a local teenager named Michael Moore who had been elected to the school board of

Davison, Michigan Davison is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Flint. The population was 5,536 at the 2000 census and fell to 5,173 by the 2010 census. Davison is located within Davison Township survey township area (7N 8E) ...

. Taff mentored Moore and his friends for a year and a half, showing him the news business. Moore later said of Taff: "He was the one media person in a town dominated by General Motors to have the courage to report the truth."

WISN-TV career

Taff joined WISN-TV as anchor in September 1979. He interviewed

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

in October 1980. While working at WISN, Taff mentored reporters such as

Shaun Robinson Shaun Robinson (born July 12, 1962) is an American television host, author, producer, philanthropist, television personality and actress. She is perhaps best known for hosting ''Access Hollywood'' (1999–2015) and ''90 Day Fiancé'' and its spin ...

Ben Tracy Benjamin Sampair Tracy is an American journalist known for his work as a national correspondent for CBS News since January 2008. He is the White House correspondent for the ''CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell'' and '' CBS This Morning''. Ca ...

, and Jason DeRusha. He also taught a course on journalism at

Carroll University Carroll University is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Established in 1846, Carroll was Wisconsin's first four-year institution of higher learning. History Prior to its estab ...

. After serving as lead male anchor for WISN-TV for 25 years, Taff retired on May 25, 2005. Taff was inducted into the Milwaukee Media Hall of Fame on October 23, 2009. He lives in

New Braunfels, Texas New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a population of 90,403 as of the 2020 Census. A suburb just nor ...

. He has two daughters DiAnn Curtis and Denise McMahan.

Controversy

Taff's parents sued him in a

Waukesha County, Wisconsin Waukesha County () is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 406,978, making it the third-most populous county in Wisconsin. Its county seat and largest city is Waukesha. Waukesha C ...

court in 1985, claiming he owed them nearly $90,000.Mike Drew, "Taff: his turmoil and his resume," ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', April 12, 1985 at 9. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vWcaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VSoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6987,2065714 Though the lawsuit was dismissed, Taff was fired from WISN. The station later re-hired him in 1987.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taff, Jerry 1940 births Living people People from Milwaukee People from Lamesa, Texas People from New Braunfels, Texas Military personnel from Texas Texas Tech University alumni Carroll University faculty Journalists from Texas Journalists from Wisconsin People from Anadarko, Oklahoma