Award-winning broadcaster and former co-host of the Today show Jim Hartz has reportedly passed away aged 82.
It's understood that his wife Alexandra Dickson Hartz confirmed the news, with newsreader said to have died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, known as COPD.
The journalist - who was born James Hartz in 1940 - is said to have passed away last Sunday (April 17) in Fairfax County, Virginia, where he's believed to have lived in recent years.
He is perhaps best known for having hosted NBC's Today morning show alongside Barbara Walters, now 92, between 1974 and 1976. He had replaced the late Frank McGee.
According to the Sun, he covered national as well as local news during his career - notably providing coverage of topics such as war, science and the space programme.
His decades-long career saw him front other shows on NBC, with him said to have been the youngest correspondent to be hired by the broadcaster - becoming an anchor aged 24.
The Emmy Award winning reporter - who grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma - initially worked for KOTV in his home state and was later promoted to its new director in 1964.
He joined WNBC-TV - owned by NBC - in New York shortly after holding the previous position, with him serving as a news anchor during evening broadcasts in his mid twenties.
Hartz co-hosted the Today show for two years in the mid 1970s, with the New York Times stating that stories in the role included covering President Richard Nixon's resignation.
Following his departure, he worked as a news anchor on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1976 to 1979, before joining broadcaster PBS to co-host celebrity talk show Over Easy.
It's been reported that he co-anchored weekly show Asia Now in the early 1990s - whilst working within PBS - with the project having meant he hosted from Tokyo in Japan.
Hartz is said to have later moved away from journalism, with him said to have become the chairman of the Will Rogers Memorial Commission in 1993, based in Oklahoma.
It's understood that he is survived by his wife Alexandra and his two daughters, Jana Hartz Maher and Nancy Hartz Cole. He's said to have six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
