Latest news with #ReneeFerguson
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Renee Ferguson Dead at 75 After Trailblazing Journalism Career
Renee Ferguson, a trailblazing television reporter in Chicago, is dead at 75. How did Ferguson die? Ferguson's cause of death was not released. Tributes flowed in for the investigative journalist. NBC 5, her former television station, confirmed her death with her family on June 6, 2025. "Renee Ferguson left an incredible echo in our newsroom that still rings through the DNA of our investigative journalism, and that legacy will continue," said Kevin Cross, president and general manager of NBCU Local Chicago, to that station. According to that station, Ferguson was the first Black woman to work as an investigative journalist for a Chicago television station. She worked for NBC Chicago from 1987 through 2008, the station wrote. Indiana University honored Ferguson in an alumni tribute before her death. She was the co-founder of the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, the university wrote. "A television journalist and investigative reporter, Ferguson's writing roots trace back to her adolescence, even before she attended IU," the university bio says. "Her junior high school named her Most Likely to be a Journalist. Ferguson always wanted to be a writer, and living up to her middle school superlative, she has told countless stories over her career," the bio says. According to The Chicago Tribune, Ferguson's career spanned 25 years at two television stations in that city. Ferguson's husband, Ken Smikle, died before her, according to a 2018 article in the Chicago Sun-Times. It says that he died after his wife made a public plea for a donor heart for him. He was described as a "well-known" journalist who ran a marketing firm. He was 66 when he died after suffering from congestive heart failure, The Sun-Times Ferguson Dead at 75 After Trailblazing Journalism Career first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 7, 2025
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Longtime Chicago television investigative reporter Renee Ferguson dies at 75
Former WBBM-TV reporter Renee Ferguson has died at the age of 75. Ferguson, the first African American woman to work as an investigative reporter in Chicago television, was an investigative reporter for WBBM from 1977 to 1983, when she went to work as a correspondent for network CBS News. She returned to Chicago in 1987 as an investigative reporter for WMAQ-TV, where she spent the bulk of her career at the NBC station. Ferguson retired from WMAQ-TV in 2008. "Renee Ferguson left an incredible echo in our newsroom that still rings through the DNA of our investigative journalism, and that legacy will continue," said Kevin Cross, president and general manager of NBCU Local Chicago.
