Longtime San Francisco news anchor Pete Wilson died unexpectedly Friday night, a day after suffering a massive heart attack during hip replacement surgery at Stanford Hospital. He was 62.I've only been a San Franciscan for a year, but in all the years of visiting and vacationing prior to the move, it was obvious that Wilson was THE face of TV news here. He arrived in the Bay area in 1983 at the ABC station (KGO-Channel 7) before moving across the street to the infamous independent NBC affiliate KRON-Channel 4, where he spent 12-years as the station's principal anchor. Following that station's disaffiliation with the NBC network, Wilson returned to KGO-TV where he has anchored the 6pm newscast - and hosted an afternoon talk show on their sister radio station - since 2002.
He ruffled some feathers last year when he publicly criticized San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is in a same-sex partnership, for having a baby with a friend, Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian. The Board of Supervisors demanded that KGO fire him, but Wilson addressed the issue on his radio show and reiterated his support for same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption.
For a brief moment over the weekend, as news of Wilson's death hit the newswires, some Californians outside of the Bay area thought that the former California Governor, also named Pete Wilson, had died.
As a follower of local TV news since I was a teenager, Wilson was indeed a pro. Not one to simply sit down and read a teleprompter, Wilson always gave the impression that you needed to sit down and listen to what he had to say. And he was infamous for his deep sighs and eye rolling at some of the absurd stories that would make their way to his newscasts.
Wilson is survived by his wife and a son.
(Photo: KGO-TV)
