23 Facts About Jim Vance

James Howard Vance III was an American television news presenter in Washington, DC.

Jim Vance felt his mother had abandoned him, fueling decades of resentment, and in later years, forgiveness.

Jim Vance earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education from Cheyney University, a historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania.

Jim Vance began his news career as a reporter for the Philadelphia Independent newspaper and WHAT-AM radio station, while simultaneously teaching English at Overbrook High School.

Jim Vance worked as a reporter for WKBS-TV for one year and was later hired by NBC News to report for the network's affiliate Washington, DC station, WRC-TV in 1969.

From 1972 to 1976 Jim Vance was main co-anchor with Glenn Rinker, becoming one of the first African Americans in that position in the United States.

Between 1976 and 1980, Jim Vance co-anchored with Sue Simmons, a pairing that resulted in one of the first, if not the first, African-American co-anchors of a major market newscast.

Jim Vance appeared as himself in the 2009 movie State of Play and appeared as himself in a 2010 episode of the NBC series The Event and in a 2013 edition of NBC series The Blacklist.

Jim Vance earned 19 Emmy Awards, one of which was for his coverage of the 1977 Hanafi Siege of three buildings in downtown Washington, DC He won an Emmy for his coverage of the January 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 in the Potomac River that killed 78 people and a Metrorail train derailment the same day, which killed three people.

Jim Vance was recognized as anchor and reporter for extended news coverage of Super Bowl XXII.

Jim Vance received multiple Emmy Awards for Outstanding News Anchor in 1987,1991,1997,1999, and 2011.

Jim Vance received a 1999 award as producer and reporter for WRC-TV's News4 at 6 broadcast.

In 2014, Jim Vance received the Board of Governor's Award for outstanding achievement and community service.

Jim Vance was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame on August 10,2007, and was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian magazine in 1976 among many other awards for community service.

Jim Vance was married to Margo L Vance when he was 19 years old and has one daughter, Dawn, from that marriage.

Jim Vance was married to Barbara Schmidt-Vance and raised his second daughter Amani.

Jim Vance had one stepson, two grandsons and one granddaughter.

Jim Vance battled a cocaine addiction in the late 1970s and early 1980s, later going public with the ordeal.

One night in 1987, Jim Vance sat on the ground by the Potomac River at Great Falls, and he stuck his bird-hunting shotgun in his mouth and considered pulling the trigger.

College friend Ed Bradley encouraged him to seek therapy and Jim Vance went for help at a dingy downtown support group "full of old-school drunks" the next day.

In 2014, Jim Vance spoke about his mother's verbal abuse of him as a child and advocated against that form of discipline.

In May 2017, Jim Vance revealed he was battling lung cancer, but would continue working through treatment.

At the time of his death, Jim Vance was the region's longest-serving television news anchor with more than 45 years at WRC-TV.