Longtime WABC anchor Bill Ritter stepping down due to Alzheimer's diagnosis

Longtime WABC/7 "Eyewitness News" anchor Bill Ritter announced on Friday he is stepping down after being diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's.

Ritter, who has anchored the 6 p.m. newscast since 2001, said Friday's broadcast would be his last.

"After a series of tests, my doctors have told me I have Alzheimer's," Ritter, 76, announced in an emotional message at the end of Friday's edition. "It's 'early stage' Alzheimer's, and they say the treatments I'm getting are keeping it at bay. For now. But there is no guarantee, because there's no cure yet for Alzheimer's. So, unless someone finds an amazing cure, and soon, tonight (Friday) will be the last newscast I anchor."

Ritter said he will remain with "Eyewitness News" in a new role, covering "the rising tide of Alzheimer's, and other similar diseases, including how it's affecting patients and their families, how the price of treatment and the price of caring for patients is simply unaffordable and how this country might begin to change that."

A California native who began his career in print journalism as a reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Times, Ritter joined a San Diego TV station in 1987 where he spearheaded an Emmy-winning investigation (into practices at Sea World), and later covered the Rodney King riots and trial for a pair of L.A. stations. He then joined ABC News in 1992 as founding co-host of "Good Morning America/Sunday," and a long future at the network seemed assured.

Instead, in 1999, he succeeded Bill Beutel on the 11 p.m. weeknight editions of "Eyewitness News." 

But Ritter's legendary run began in early 2001 when he joined the 6 p.m. broadcast; after co-anchor Liz Cho joined in2003, the program began its long run as New York’s most dominant newscast — according to Ch. 7’s own figures, at times drawing more viewers than the 6 p.m. editions of WNBC/ 4 and WCBS/2 combined.

In a 2022 interview with Newsday, Ritter said covering Sept. 11 "was the kind of story that seared us — and bonded us to viewers and vice versa. I was not sure what I wanted to do [before] but after 9/11 there was not a shred of doubt in my mind — that I was here for the duration and that this is the place where I belong. After that, there wasn't any doubt what I was going to do when I grew up ... Local television really rose up during the crisis — no one can deny that."

In early 2025, he stepped down from the 5 p.m. broadcast and last June dropped the 11 p.m. broadcast. Addressing his future in that 2022 interview, Ritter said,

“ My own future? It's hard to say but I'll be here for a while, hopefully, as long as I keep my head and stay healthy. [Laughs] I'm not sure I want to work as hard."