Gwen Ifill, American journalist, Died at 61

  Writer

Gwendolyn L. “Gwen” Ifil was born on September 29, 1955, in New York City and died on November 14, 2016.

She was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author.

Ifill was the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and co-anchor and co-managing editor, with Judy Woodruff, of PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS.

She was a political analyst and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates.

Gwen was the author of the best-selling book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama

She was the fifth child of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister (Oliver) Urcille Ifill, Sr., a Panamanian of Barbadian descent who emigrated from Panama, and Eleanor Ifill, who was from Barbados.

Ifill’s father’s ministry required the family to live in several cities throughout New England and the Eastern Seaboard during her youth.

During her childhood, Ifill lived in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts church parsonages and in federally subsidized housing in Buffalo and New York City.

Ifill graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts.

He died of endometrial cancer.

Gwen Ifill passed away at 91 years old.