John Drury Dies – Chicago TV News Anchor and Reporter
I was sad to hear that John Drury passed away yesterday. I heard about it on the ABC Channel 7 10 O’clock news. He was a news broadcast anchor on ABC channel 7 in Chicago for many years and I remember him from watching the news every night as I was growing up in the suburbs. He was pretty much the Peter Jennings of Chicago and almost a part of the family when you watched the news every night since there were fewer TV network channels and much less on cable in the 80′s and early 90′s.
John Drury was someone you sensed you could trust with the news and he seemed very detailed and expert about the news and yet friendly at the same time. I was sad to hear that he had ALS and that is what eventually took his life. He was 80 years old and had a rich broadcast news career for 40 years which started in Milwaukee before he came to Chicago.
They spent a lot of time on the 10pm newscast last night getting reactions from all the other news anchors and reporters who worked with them and many of them were almost in tears. John Drury seemed like someone they not only respected but really liked as a friend as well. They also reran his sign-off from the last news broadcast he did when he retired in 2002. It was nice to see that again and remember a great Chicago Icon of TV news. I send my deepest condolences to his family I am sure they will miss him, and so will all of Chicago.