Bob Cain

Bob Cain, the veteran journalist and CNN anchor who was a fixture on the network in the 1980s and 1990s, died Tuesday, Sept. 2, at home in Atlanta, his family said. He was 80.

Cain joined the network in 1980, shortly after its inception, and retired in 2002. He anchored a variety of morning programs, including CNN Morning News, Daybreak, Week in Review and Newsline, and he was an integral part of the network's coverage of major national and international events, including the Los Angeles earthquake, the Gulf War, numerous elections and summits and the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

He was known for his gravitas and for his old-school journalism ethic, preferring to report and write as much of his own copy as possible; and for his exceptional ad-libbing abilities, often correcting errors in news copy that crossed his desk and doing it so seamlessly that his superiors had no idea his smooth delivery was a mix of teleprompter copy and his own. He never had an agent, preferring instead to negotiate his own contracts. Those who knew him say he held to the idea that his work was its own best management.

Before joining CNN, Cain was an NBC Radio correspondent based in New York City. During his 10 years with NBC, Cain covered major national and local stories, including both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1976, the arrest of “Son of Sam,” the resignation of President Nixon, the New York visit of Pope John Paul II and the 1976 power blackouts in New York City.

Born Robert Owen Cain on Aug. 11, 1934, in O'Neill, Nebraska, Cain began his career in 1952 at KSWI-Radio in Council Bluffs, Iowa. His extensive news background includes positions as anchor/reporter for WPRI-TV and WJAR-TV in Providence, R.I.; as newscaster for WHK-Radio, Cleveland, Ohio; and as news director at KOIL-Radio in Omaha, Neb.

Cain's accolades include a 1988 American Bar Association “Silver Gavel Award” for his work on the CNN documentary, “A More Perfect Union"; a 1975 George Peabody Award for his part in “Second Sunday"; a segment of the NBC News Radio series “Communism in the '70s”; a 1972 New York Council of Churches Award for a documentary on poverty in New York; and a 1966 Providence, R.I., Toastmaster's Gavel Award for his controversial radio talk show, “Open Line.”

Cain attended Creighton and Brown universities.

A long-standing member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he was 27 years sober at the end.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and one brother, Frederick Cain.

Cain died at the home he shared with his former wife, Anne Walsh Cain. He is survived by his children; Robert Cain of Las Vegas, Nev.; John Cain of Placentia, Calif.; Julie Cain of Placentia, Calif.; and Stephanie Cain Sherman of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and grandchildren Ryan and Christopher Wratz and Annabelle, Harold, Juliette and Tula Sherman.

A funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 1:30 p.m., at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 4465 Northside Drive NW, Sandy Springs, GA.

H.M. Patterson & Son–Arlington Chapel is serving the family.