“Gwen, you left too abruptly,” said Gwen Ifill’s PBS NewsHour co-anchor Judy Woodruff. “There was no time to say goodbye. I wanted to be your work big sister a lot longer. There was so much more to do. And now especially so many important stories to cover. We need you now more than ever.”
Washington journalist Gwen Ifill was remembered Saturday as an accomplished newswoman, cherished friend and woman of faith by thousands of mourners — including first lady Michelle Obama.
Mrs. Obama did not speak at the service, but former Attorney General Eric Holder read a letter from President Barack Obama, who was in Peru. Holder likened Ifill to “a comet” and challenged the colleagues she leaves behind to honor her legacy with their work by holding those in power accountable.
“Will you cower? Will you normalize that which is anything but?” Holder asked in a veiled reference to the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
The service, held at the historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church — where Ifill was a longtime member –was also a grand display of her faith and roots as the daughter of Caribbean immigrants whose father was a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her pastor of many years, Bishop James L. Davis, recalled Ifill as “brilliance cloaked in humility.”
Ifill died last Monday at age 61 after a quiet battle with cancer.
Source: AP