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Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a generation of television viewers, died Friday at the age of 92, his family said.

“My father, Walter Cronkite, died,” his son Chip said just before 8 p.m. Eastern. CBS interrupted prime time programming to show an obituary for the man who defined the network’s news division for decades. Read an obituary by Douglas Martin here.

Mr. Cronkite’s family said last month that he was seriously ill with cerebrovascular disease.

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

For his exhaustive and enthusiastic coverage of NASA, Mr. Cronkite was sometimes called “the eighth astronaut.” During the first moon landing in 1969, Mr. Cronkite “was on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that Apollo 11 took to complete its mission,” The Museum of Broadcast Communications notes. Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing

We are losing so many icons this year. Sad to hear of his passing. Such a long life, and he reported on SO much.

The moon landing is celebrating it's 40th tomorrow I think.. I remember sitting in the floor of my living room, watching Walter Cronkite as I was sewing my wedding veil.
It's such a vivid memory for me. LOL - my veil was fancier and longer than my dress...
I was appliquéing daisies on it ( it WAS 1969 remember!)

I loved Walter Cronkite. Gosh, everybody dying is making me feel old.

So sad.