Today we mourn the loss of our colleague and our good friend, Bill Carey.

Bill, our senior reporter, lost a valiant, nearly two-year fight with lung cancer. He died Friday night at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

He was 61.

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Our news director, Ron Lombard, worked with Bill for 18 of Bill's 44 years in news, and filed the following report on the life and times of one of Central New York’s most honored and respected broadcast journalists.

Bill grew up in Auburn, and landed his first radio job at hometown WMBO. It was 1971. He was still a teenager. No college degree, no formal journalism training. Five years later he was running the large and competitive newsroom at 62-WHEN in Syracuse.

He made his move to TV in the 80s, eventually becoming news director at WTVH-5, and later back to radio for a brief stint in charge of news at WSYR.

Bill would be the first to admit he preferred mentoring to management.  But what he really loved was storytelling. And he did that better than just about anyone. First at channel 5, then at channel 9 in the 90s, then fortunately for us, in 2003, when he signed on with the fledgling cable news operation we knew back then as News 10 Now.

One look at our walls here will tell you what Bill has meant for this station in terms of our journalistic credibility with awards from Syracuse Press Club, state Associated Press, regional and a national Edward R. Murrow award, and a New York Emmy -- not to mention the dozens of awards he won at his previous stations.

But Bill was never about the awards. For him, it was all about the story. He had a piece of just about every major local and regional story of the past four decades, and he traveled the globe to bring the most important stories of our time back to Central New York.

Politics and government were Bill’s forte and he had the respect of the people who move in that world. It’s the respect that comes with asking the right questions, and the tough questions, but always with fairness and professionalism. Just last month he sat down with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for one of the longest one-on-one interviews the governor has granted since he's been in office.

As important as Bill was on the big story or that big must-get interview, his greatest impact was day-to-day. His very presence in the newsroom, his patience and willingness to share his knowledge with people just starting out in the business, his ability to turn a good story just about every single workday. If he didn’t have something already set up for the day, Bill would simply say "I'll come up with something."  And he invariably did.

Even as the cancer stole his trademark bushy moustache and thick mane of salt and pepper hair, as he endured treatment after treatment over these past many months, he was still here working away, just about every day -- doing what Bill did: contributing, turning stories, helping his team.

We’ll forever be grateful for having known him, for having the privilege of working with him, and for calling him our friend.

Bill was also a devoted family man. He leaves his wonderful wife Mary Ellen, three grown children and six grandchildren.

 

Services for Bill: 

  • Calling hours will be held Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Thomas Pirro Junior Funeral Home in North Syracuse.
  • The funeral will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Church in Syracuse.

Memorial donations can be sent in care of “Giving” to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.