Richard Gary Leventhal (born January 24, 1960) is an American reporter. He was a senior correspondent for

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

from June 1997 to June 2021. Before joining Fox, he spent 10 years in local news, reporting and anchoring in markets including

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

;

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

;

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

;

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

;

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

; and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is a graduate of

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, with a B.A. in broadcast journalism.

Career

Leventhal has been to war zones nearly two dozen times, including five trips to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, four to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, eight to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

(including multiple journeys to the West Bank and Gaza), tours of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, and Macedonia during the war in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and two trips to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

in 2011. In 2003, Leventhal spent nine weeks in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and

, embedded with the United States Marine Corps' 3rd L.A.R., crossing the border and advancing to the outskirts of Baghdad, where he joined the Sinners and Saints of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines. He was one of the first reporters on the scene at the World Trade Center during the

September 11 attacks 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 commercia ...

and the first to go live, before the towers fell to the ground. He traveled to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and Afghanistan later that year, embedding with Marines at Camp Rhino and Kandahar Airport for the launch of the War on Terror. More recently he provided live coverage of flooding in Louisiana, the killing of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

and the 10 year commemoration of the September 11 attacks. He spent significant time covering 2010's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and has been dispatched to numerous natural disasters over 24 years of reporting, riding out major hurricanes including Katrina, Rita, Andrew, and Hugo. He went to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

for the devastating earthquake in 2010 and to Vatican City to cover the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II and the selection of his successor and was live on scene for The Miracle on the Hudson and later, Captain "Sully" Sullenberger's return to flight. He also recently took a ride in an F-15 with the

Massachusetts Air National Guard The Massachusetts Air National Guard (MA ANG) is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States of America. It is, along with the Massachusetts Army National Guard, an element of the Massachusetts National Guard. As common ...

Biography

Leventhal is a younger son of Dr. Allan Leventhal, a retired psychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Carol Leventhal, the retired director of Greenbelt Cares in

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...

. He is second of three siblings. He has an older brother, Scott Leventhal (born 1958), and a sister, Leigh (born 1963). He completed his high school education in

Montgomery Blair High School Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a public high school located in Four Corners, Maryland, United States, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools. The school's total enrollment of 3,600 makes it the largest public high school in Montgo ...

in Silver Spring in 1978.

Personal life

Leventhal was married to

Penny Daniels Penny Daniels is an American communications consultant and trainer and a former television news anchor who once hosted the TV show '' A Current Affair''. Early life and education Born as Elizabeth Penny Comm, Daniels is a native of Highland ...

, who was on-air reporter for

WSVN-TV WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television. WSVN's studios are located on 79th Street Causeway ( SR 934) in North ...

in Miami and

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

-TV in Chicago. He and Daniels are divorced. They have two daughters, Veronica (born 1991), an activist, advocate, and social worker, and Shoshana (born 1996), a vegan focusing on music, philosophy, and women's studies at

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

. Leventhal eloped with

Beth Shak Beth Shak (born November 8, 1969) is an American professional poker player, who has been playing professionally since 2004. She is also an entrepreneur and philanthropist as well as a shoe and handbag expert. Shak ran a private vintage designer ...

, they were married on June 9, 2016 in Las Vegas. In April 2017, Beth Shak filed for divorce after nine months of marriage. After a short courtship, he proposed to ''

The Real Housewives of Orange County ''The Real Housewives of Orange County'' (abbreviated ''RHOC'') is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 21, 2006. It has aired sixteen seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several wome ...

'' cast member Kelly Dodd on November 13, 2019. The couple married on October 10, 2020.

References

1. Remembering 9/11: Incredible Raw Video Shows Rick Leventhal Interviewing Survivors at Ground Zero as North Tower Collapses Sep. 08, 2011 https://video.foxnews.com/v/1149460964001#sp=show-clips

External links

Rick Leventhal's Fox News Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leventhal, Rick 1960 births American television reporters and correspondents American University School of Communication alumni American war correspondents Fox News people Living people Montgomery College alumni People from Long Island People from Prince George's County, Maryland People from Silver Spring, Maryland Journalists from New York City People from Newport Beach, California People from Florida People from Columbia, South Carolina People from Chicago