NEW YORK (AP) — Ruschell Boone, an award-winning reporter and anchor for New York Metropolis TV station NY1, has died after battling pancreatic most cancers over the previous yr, the station introduced Tuesday.
Boone, 48, died Sunday, NY1 stated in a information launch.
Boone joined the all-news station as a reporter protecting the borough of Queens in 2002 and moved to the anchor desk with a midday slot in 2021.
The station, now owned by Constitution Communications, stated Boone “had a singular capacity to attach with New Yorkers — via the display screen and in individual — in a method that made her really feel like a trusted buddy.”
Constitution Communications Spectrum NY1 by way of AP
A local of Jamaica, Boone was identified for her protection of the town’s numerous immigrant communities.
She reported on huge tales like Superstorm Sandy and protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and she or he additionally was a fixture at celebrations together with Brooklyn’s annual West Indian American Day parade and the Occasions Sq. New Yr’s Eve ball drop.
Boone was the one TV reporter at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic major election social gathering in June 2018 when the underdog candidate realized from early returns that she was about to upset incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley.
“I can not put this into phrases,” the soon-to-be Congress member instructed Boone on reside TV.
Boone gained a number of awards over the course of her profession, together with a New York Press Membership award for greatest characteristic reporting and a New York Emmy award for her collection “New York: Unfiltered.”
After her most cancers analysis, Boone took a go away from NY1 from June 2022 to March of this yr for a grueling collection of chemotherapy therapies.
However she introduced on social media on July 27 that her most cancers had taken a flip for the more serious. “Sadly, my most cancers has metastasized in my liver and I’m again in remedy,” Boone stated on X, previously Twitter. “It’s tough, however the chemo is working.” She added, “Prayers have carried me via the tough moments. Thank u for rooting for me.”
Her first interview when she returned to NY1 in March was with New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, who appeared on the station Tuesday to supply a tribute.
“We’re all higher folks as a result of we had an exquisite, great one who reported to us and confirmed us that regardless of how a lot ache you may have you’ll be able to flip it in to objective,” Adams stated. “You by no means noticed her frowning. She didn’t say ‘Woe is me.’ She stated ‘Why not me. I need to encourage others.’”
Boone’s survivors embrace her husband, Todd Boone, and two sons.