Longtime TV presence Ron Claiborne has retired from ABC News, meaning Good Morning America fans will miss the elegant journalist who anchored the ABC morning show’s GMA: Weekend Edition. Claiborne, 65, is a media veteran who also spent time in the newspaper world, working for the New York Daily News back in the 1980s. But it’s as a genial and steady TV newsman that Claiborne endeared himself to millions of fans and viewers over the years. He’s been with ABC News in various capacities since 1986, winning an Emmy Award in 2000 for covering the Elian Gonzales story.
Also a regular presence on World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline, Claiborne had that easy, but serious and trustworthy manner that eludes so many of today’s TV journalists. Maybe his double Ivy League education had something to do with it: Claiborne went to Yale University before attending journalism school at Columbia.
Quoting retired Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina, Claiborne simply said it’s time to “do something else.” Predictably, Claiborne’s something else isn’t typical. He told his Facebook followers that he’ll be doing volunteer work starting in Tanzania and then moving on to Uganda, where he’ll volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary. Ron Claiborn, folks, is just getting started.
