WBZ NewsRadio Legend LaPierre Passes Away at 76
Tuesday, February 05, 2019
WBZ NewsRadio legend Gary LaPierre passed away at the age of 76 on Monday at his home, the station announced.
LaPierre was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
About LaPierre
LaPierre began his career by working in the mail room at WBZ in the 1960’s, before becoming a general assignment reporter.
In the 1960s, LaPierre traveled with The Beatles for the opening leg of their U.S. tour.
During the Blizzard of 1978, he broadcasted for five days, “at times by candlelight.”
LaPierre went to Germany on two different occasions to cover the American hostage releases from Iran, and then was at every national political convention from 1968 to 2004.
He interviewed every president starting with Lyndon Johnson and ending with George W Bush.
LaPierre was inducted to the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, won the Associated Press, Radio-Television News Director Association (RTNDA) Award, the national 1998 Edward R. Murrow award for Best Radio Newscast, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Organization in 1997.
LaPierre was born in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts and graduated from Grahm Junior College and then the University of New Hampshire and Boston University.
Emerson College granted LaPierre an honorary doctorate in 1998.