CNN anchor Bernard Shaw dead at 82

Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw died Wednesday at a Washington, DC, hospital of pneumonia

Shaw was born May 22, 1940, in Chicago to Edgar and Camilla Shaw.

Shaw was CNN's first chief anchor and was with the network when it launched on June 1, 1980

He retired from CNN after more than 20 years on February 28, 2001

After he left CNN, Bernie remained a close member of our CNN family providing our viewers with context about historic events as recently as last year

Funeral services for Shaw will be closed to family and invited guests only

Shaw got his career start as a radio reporter in Chicago, during which he interviewed Dr. Martin Luther King

His first job in TV was as a political reporter for CBS, helping cover the Watergate scandal

CNN made its debut with Shaw as its Washington anchor at a time when other networks had White males as their lead anchors