Longtime Bay Area television news anchor Dennis Richmond has died at the age of 81, his former employer KTVU reported. Richmond spent his entire 40-year career with KTVU and was one of the country's first Black anchors of a major market news station.

Dennis Richmond, KTVU-TV anchor of 32 years, died Wednesday, two months after suffering a heart attack. He was 81 years old.

Longtime KTVU anchor Dennis Richmond died Wednesday, the station reported. He was 82. Richmond died in Grass Valley, Calif., with his wife by his side, friends told KTVU. Richmond became an anchor at KTVU in 1976 and held the post until his retirement in 2008, according to the station.

Legendary KTVU anchorman Dennis Richmond, the quintessential newsman of four decades – an anchor still most associated with Channel 2 long after his retirement – has died.

Dennis Richmond, one of the nation’s first Black anchors of a major market TV newscast, joined KTVU as a clerk and rose to the rank of anchor in 1976, a job he held until 2008, when he retired five days before he turned 65.