Bobbie Battista, pioneering CNN anchor, dies at 67

Bobbie Battista, a pioneering anchor who worked on CNN Headline News when the network first launched in 1981, has died. She was 67.

Battista had been living with cervical cancer for four years, before her death Tuesday morning.

“Bobbie was the consummate trooper in her struggle with cancer, she was courageous and fearless in her battle and thoughtful for all the others in her life even as she fought through the pain," Battista's husband John Brimelow said in a statement to EW. "My dear partner of 25 years of marriage has cut her earthly bonds and is now in peace.”

In addition to CNN Headline News, Battista hosted multiple shows on the groundbreaking cable network, including TalkBack Live, which was filmed in front of a live studio audience.

Battista began her career in news in 1976 at Raleigh, N.C.-based WRAL-TV. The anchor and producer started in morning news before working her way up to being an evening news anchor on the station's program Action News 5.

In 1981, Battista worked as a writer and assistant producer on the Peabody Award-winning program Fed Up With Fear. She also had been nominated for multiple awards for Best Newscaster, including an annual reader's poll she won in Cable Guide magazine in 1986.

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