Walter Cronkite's funeral to honor CBS newsman

[July 23, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A funeral for Walter Cronkite, widely considered the premier TV journalist of his time, will be a private family service.

But the ceremony, to be held Thursday afternoon at St. Bartholomew's Church in midtown Manhattan, where the CBS newsman's family worshipped for decades, is likely to draw scores of his loved ones, friends and colleagues.

Although the service is planned as a traditional burial service from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, announced speakers include "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney and longtime Cronkite producer Sanford Socolow, as well as son Chip Cronkite.

Music is expected to include a jazz band's rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

For his reporting, Cronkite came to be called "the most trusted man in America." He anchored "The CBS Evening News" from 1962 until 1981. Cronkite died Friday at his Manhattan home at age 92.

A separate memorial will be held within the next few weeks at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

[Associated Press]

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