Dick Johnson, Chicago TV news anchor passes at 66

Dick Johnson

Dick Johnson, longtime Chicago morning news co-anchor and reporter for NBC owned television station WMAQ-TV in Chicago, has passed away. He was 66 years old.

Before coming to WMAQ-TV in 2002, Johnson was a longtime reporter/anchor at rival WLS-TV. He has won numerous awards, including the DuPont-Columbia Award (the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) and the Emmy Award.

Johnson was the producer for the summer play productions put on by the Community House in Hinsdale, Illinois. In 2006, he produced Oliver!, and one year later, in the summer of 2007, he produced and performed as Franklin D. Roosevelt in Annie.


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He has also appeared on NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” the movie “Barbershop 2” and the 2009 film “Chicago Overcoat.”

He died on June 9, 2020, following days of respiratory complications, non-Covid related. He was being treated at a northern Michigan hospital at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife Lauren, his three children and his two grandchildren.


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