Veteran ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft dies aged 70

Former ABC newsreader Richard Morecroft has died at the age of 70 following a cancer diagnosis. The veteran reporter anchored the ABC’s nightly NSW news bulletin for nearly two decades from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

“Sadly, our beloved Richard died today, at a time of his choosing, on the South Coast of NSW,” a statement shared on his Instagram account said.

“He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was grateful to go peacefully, with his partner of 36 years, Alison Mackay, beside him. We are devastated to lose such a warm, generous and caring human and hope that all those who knew him, if only through their TV screens, will remember him fondly.”

Morecroft moved from England to Adelaide with his family at the age of 10. He studied English and drama at the University of Adelaide and worked at the university’s radio station before landing a job at the ABC.

He presented the Adelaide News bulletin before hosting ABC News NSW from 1983 until 2002.

Morecroft also hosted the quiz show Letters and Numbers on SBS between 2010 and 2012.

His career spanned more than 20 years, including reporting stints in Canberra. He was also a staunch environmental activist and was a long-time trustee for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a governor of the Taronga Foundation and a director of the Zoological Parks Board of NSW.

Morecroft was also an acclaimed landscape photographer. His work hangs on the walls of Parliament House in Canberra.

He met his long-term partner, Alison Mackay, in Far North Queensland in 1990 while he was on holiday at Cape Tribulation. They kept in touch through handwritten fountain-pen letters for two years before Mackay moved to Sydney.

Morecroft had shared updates on his Instagram account earlier in the year about his long stay in the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney for cancer treatment.

Tributes have already started to flow in from veteran news presenters who worked alongside Morecroft at the ABC, including Leigh Sales and Michael Rowland.

“The best way I can describe Richard is that he was a gentleman, and a gentle man. He was pure class in every way – a kind, warm and generous colleague, as well as being a consummate professional. I had so much admiration and regard for him and I consider myself a lucky person indeed to have been his friend,” Sales wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.

Rowland added: “I’m so sorry to hear this. Richard was a superb newsreader and a lovely man. My condolences to Alison and the rest of Richard’s family and friends.”

ABC News presenter Joe O’Brien, in a post on social media, said: “Richard set the respected standard for others to follow. And more importantly was a warm, encouraging guy too.”

More to come

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