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One of the founding members and original anchors of Fox News has passed away.
Longtime anchor Uma Pemmaraju died at age 64.
“Pemmaraju was on the air when Fox News launched on Oct. 7, 1996. At the time, Pemmaraju was one of the only Indian-American anchors to reach national prominence, and she was beloved by viewers and Fox News colleagues alike,” Fox News reported.
She anchored original shows on the network like “Fox News Now” and “Fox On Trends.”
She left the network but rejoined in 2003 as an anchor. Pemmaraju also hosted the Sunday edition of “FOX News Live,” anchored “The Fox Report” and interviewed newsmakers, celebrities, and political figures.
“We are deeply saddened by the death of Uma Pemmaraju, who was one of FOX News Channel’s founding anchors and was on the air the day we launched. Uma was an incredibly talented journalist as well as a warm and lovely person, best known for her kindness to everyone she worked with. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her entire family,” FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said.
“The award-winning anchor was born in India, raised in Texas, and honed her craft at local stations in Dallas, Baltimore, and WBZ-TV in Boston, before relocating to New York to help launch Fox News Channel. Her family told WBZ-TV’s David Wade she was a noble soul and pioneer. Pemmaraju was named “Boston’s Best Anchor” in 1996 and 1997 by Boston Magazine and received several Emmy awards throughout her career for reporting and investigative journalism. She was named one of Spotlight Magazine’s “20 Intriguing Women of 1998.” Pemmaraju also won the Texas AP award for reporting in 2002, the Woman of Achievement award from the Big Sisters Organization of America, and the Matrix Award from Women in Communications,” Fox News reported.
Founding Fox News Channel anchor Uma Pemmaraju has died at age 64https://t.co/U0eqnvTP8F pic.twitter.com/GUvvgug0Np
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 9, 2022
Very sad to hear this news .. Uma’s office was just a few doors down from mine when I first started at Fox. She was kind and welcoming and always has a smile for everyone. Original Fox News Channel anchor #UmaPemmaraju dies at 64 | @FoxNews https://t.co/BqJu0GZrtU
— Laura Ingle NOT Ingraham (@lauraingle) August 10, 2022
In a 1993 article, the Boston Globe said Pemmaraju arrived on Boston’s media scene “like a rocket with booster jets blazing.” She was dedicated to reporting stories about “the dispossessed, the indigent, the powerless,” the paper said.
“I’m a conduit to help other people. I don’t want to sound too sentimental. But that’s what I’m about,” Pemmaraju told the Globe. “I want to use my celebrity to help people, to help bring about something that needs to be done.”
“Pemmaraju was 6 years old when her parents moved to San Antonio from Rajahmundry, India. They were the only Indians in San Antonio, and one of the few Indian families then in Texas. Her father, a research scientist specializing in birth control, was invited to Texas to direct a new foundation for population studies. Her mother, a housewife from a prominent Indian family, sought to balance her wish to impart Indian cultural values to her daughter and two sons while allowing them to grow up American. Lacking a Hindu temple in San Antonio, the family eventually sought the spiritual guidance of Swami Satchidananda after he was invited to the United States by artist Peter Max for the opening ceremonies at Woodstock,” the Globe reported.
“Pemmaraju says her interest in journalism stemmed from family connections. Her grandfather was a newspaper publisher, she says, in south India. As a child, she kept a daily diary filled with reflections about world affairs brought into her San Antonio house via television. As a teenager and through college, she worked for a local newspaper and television station. She eventually became a reporter in Dallas and Baltimore, winning an Emmy one year in Baltimore for a report about a nearly drowned child who was rescued from the brink in a bizarre set of circumstances. A workaholic who gets by on four hours of sleep a night, Pemmaraju has had her share of journalistic coups and weird encounters,” the report added.
