Television Journalist.
Born William Madden Plante, in Chicago Il. His father, Regis, was employed as a field engineer for a heating company; his mother, Jane (Madden), worked as a school administrator.
Plante attended Loyola Academy in his hometown, graduating in 1955. It was around this time he was employed by a classical music radio station in Evanston, Illinois, his first experience with broadcasting. Plante studied business and humanities at Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor's degree in 1959. He dropped out of Chicago-Kent College of Law after a friend got him a job as assistant news director at WISN-TV. He was at the station for four years before being awarded a journalism fellowship by CBS to study political science at Columbia University.
He was best known to television viewers for his long-time work as a newsman and correspondent for CBS from 1964 to 2016. He started in 1956, as a newscaster for a local television station in Chicago, while a student at Loyola University. After graduation, he worked as an assistant news director at CBS's Milwaukee affiliate. He joined the CBS network in 1964 as a reporter and assignment editor and, starting two years later, as a correspondent in his hometown of Chicago. He covered both the civil rights movement and Vietnam during the mid to late 1960s and later, he won an Emmy award for his three-part investigation of the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal in 1972. He covered every presidential election for CBS from 1968 to 2016. In 1976, he joined the CBS News Washington bureau and went to the White House to cover the Reagan Administration in 1981. He would later anchor the "CBS Sunday Night News" from 1988 to 1995. He stayed with CBS, reporting regularly for "CBS This Morning" as well as for the "CBS Evening News," until retiring in 2016.
Plante's first marriage was to Barbara Barnes Orteig. Together, they had two children, as well as four sons from her previous marriage whom Plante adopted, including future syndicated radio talk show host Chris Plante. They eventually divorced and he later married Robin Smith in 1987. They remained married for 34 years until his death. One of his sons, Patrick, predeceased him in 2014.
Plante died on September 28, 2022, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 84, and suffered from respiratory failure prior to his death.
Born William Madden Plante, in Chicago Il. His father, Regis, was employed as a field engineer for a heating company; his mother, Jane (Madden), worked as a school administrator.
Plante attended Loyola Academy in his hometown, graduating in 1955. It was around this time he was employed by a classical music radio station in Evanston, Illinois, his first experience with broadcasting. Plante studied business and humanities at Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor's degree in 1959. He dropped out of Chicago-Kent College of Law after a friend got him a job as assistant news director at WISN-TV. He was at the station for four years before being awarded a journalism fellowship by CBS to study political science at Columbia University.
He was best known to television viewers for his long-time work as a newsman and correspondent for CBS from 1964 to 2016. He started in 1956, as a newscaster for a local television station in Chicago, while a student at Loyola University. After graduation, he worked as an assistant news director at CBS's Milwaukee affiliate. He joined the CBS network in 1964 as a reporter and assignment editor and, starting two years later, as a correspondent in his hometown of Chicago. He covered both the civil rights movement and Vietnam during the mid to late 1960s and later, he won an Emmy award for his three-part investigation of the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal in 1972. He covered every presidential election for CBS from 1968 to 2016. In 1976, he joined the CBS News Washington bureau and went to the White House to cover the Reagan Administration in 1981. He would later anchor the "CBS Sunday Night News" from 1988 to 1995. He stayed with CBS, reporting regularly for "CBS This Morning" as well as for the "CBS Evening News," until retiring in 2016.
Plante's first marriage was to Barbara Barnes Orteig. Together, they had two children, as well as four sons from her previous marriage whom Plante adopted, including future syndicated radio talk show host Chris Plante. They eventually divorced and he later married Robin Smith in 1987. They remained married for 34 years until his death. One of his sons, Patrick, predeceased him in 2014.
Plante died on September 28, 2022, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 84, and suffered from respiratory failure prior to his death.
Television Journalist.
Born William Madden Plante, in Chicago Il. His father, Regis, was employed as a field engineer for a heating company; his mother, Jane (Madden), worked as a school administrator.
Plante attended Loyola Academy in his hometown, graduating in 1955. It was around this time he was employed by a classical music radio station in Evanston, Illinois, his first experience with broadcasting. Plante studied business and humanities at Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor's degree in 1959. He dropped out of Chicago-Kent College of Law after a friend got him a job as assistant news director at WISN-TV. He was at the station for four years before being awarded a journalism fellowship by CBS to study political science at Columbia University.
He was best known to television viewers for his long-time work as a newsman and correspondent for CBS from 1964 to 2016. He started in 1956, as a newscaster for a local television station in Chicago, while a student at Loyola University. After graduation, he worked as an assistant news director at CBS's Milwaukee affiliate. He joined the CBS network in 1964 as a reporter and assignment editor and, starting two years later, as a correspondent in his hometown of Chicago. He covered both the civil rights movement and Vietnam during the mid to late 1960s and later, he won an Emmy award for his three-part investigation of the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal in 1972. He covered every presidential election for CBS from 1968 to 2016. In 1976, he joined the CBS News Washington bureau and went to the White House to cover the Reagan Administration in 1981. He would later anchor the "CBS Sunday Night News" from 1988 to 1995. He stayed with CBS, reporting regularly for "CBS This Morning" as well as for the "CBS Evening News," until retiring in 2016.
Plante's first marriage was to Barbara Barnes Orteig. Together, they had two children, as well as four sons from her previous marriage whom Plante adopted, including future syndicated radio talk show host Chris Plante. They eventually divorced and he later married Robin Smith in 1987. They remained married for 34 years until his death. One of his sons, Patrick, predeceased him in 2014.
Plante died on September 28, 2022, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 84, and suffered from respiratory failure prior to his death.
Born William Madden Plante, in Chicago Il. His father, Regis, was employed as a field engineer for a heating company; his mother, Jane (Madden), worked as a school administrator.
Plante attended Loyola Academy in his hometown, graduating in 1955. It was around this time he was employed by a classical music radio station in Evanston, Illinois, his first experience with broadcasting. Plante studied business and humanities at Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor's degree in 1959. He dropped out of Chicago-Kent College of Law after a friend got him a job as assistant news director at WISN-TV. He was at the station for four years before being awarded a journalism fellowship by CBS to study political science at Columbia University.
He was best known to television viewers for his long-time work as a newsman and correspondent for CBS from 1964 to 2016. He started in 1956, as a newscaster for a local television station in Chicago, while a student at Loyola University. After graduation, he worked as an assistant news director at CBS's Milwaukee affiliate. He joined the CBS network in 1964 as a reporter and assignment editor and, starting two years later, as a correspondent in his hometown of Chicago. He covered both the civil rights movement and Vietnam during the mid to late 1960s and later, he won an Emmy award for his three-part investigation of the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal in 1972. He covered every presidential election for CBS from 1968 to 2016. In 1976, he joined the CBS News Washington bureau and went to the White House to cover the Reagan Administration in 1981. He would later anchor the "CBS Sunday Night News" from 1988 to 1995. He stayed with CBS, reporting regularly for "CBS This Morning" as well as for the "CBS Evening News," until retiring in 2016.
Plante's first marriage was to Barbara Barnes Orteig. Together, they had two children, as well as four sons from her previous marriage whom Plante adopted, including future syndicated radio talk show host Chris Plante. They eventually divorced and he later married Robin Smith in 1987. They remained married for 34 years until his death. One of his sons, Patrick, predeceased him in 2014.
Plante died on September 28, 2022, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 84, and suffered from respiratory failure prior to his death.
Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
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