Knowlton Nash. Photo courtesy of Frank Gunn at the Canadian Press.

Knowlton Nash, long-time anchor of CBC’s The National, has died at 86.

Knowlton Nash. Photo courtesy of Frank Gunn at the Canadian Press.

Knowlton Nash, long-time anchor of CBC’s The National, has died at 86.

Nash, who spent 37 years with the public broadcaster, covered the Cuban missile crisis and Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech and other major events as Washington correspondent for CBC’s Newsmagazine.

In 1969, Nash moved into CBC management and in 1978, he went back to journalism, spending a decade as chief correspondent for The National. He also helped move The National from black-and-white television to colour. Nash officially retired in 1992.

In 2006, Nash criticized the public broadcaster for pushing back The National so it could air a popular ABC reality show in the 10 p.m. ET slot.

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Here is a tribute to Nash from The National’s current chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge:

Mansbridge wrote a column in The Globe and Mail, saying Nash “was the biggest name in television news, but in so many ways he was still the kid who had sold newspapers on the corner and thought covering the news was gosh-darn exciting.”

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