George Negus, veteran Australian journalist and TV presenter, dies aged 82

George Negus, who became a household name for his reporting on Nine’s groundbreaking 60 Minutes program in the 1970s and 1980s, has died aged 82.

His family said in a statement that the TV and radio presenter and author had died after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Negus specialised in international affairs and was the founding presenter on the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and SBS’s Dateline.

His direct style was exemplified by a 60 Minutes interview with the then UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in 1981 which became the stuff of legend.

Negus: “Why are people in the street telling us that Margaret Thatcher isn’t just inflexible, not just single-minded, sometimes just plain pigheaded and won’t be told by anybody?”

Thatcher: “Who precisely is stopping you in the street, George? Give me their names.”

Kerry O’Brien, a close friend and a former colleague of Negus on This Day Tonight, said he was an “extraordinary, generous human being”.

“I think one of George’s great strengths for television was that the person you saw in the frame was an exact replica of the man,” O’Brien told Guardian Australia.

“So many people on television seem to present a slightly different persona, or the kind of essence of the person is not necessarily captured. But George was George, wherever he was, whatever he stood on, whatever desk he sat behind – and it was the same George that you’d be having a beer with, or a good meal and sucking on a good red. He was the same guy when he was home with Kirsty and the kids.”

Negus rose to fame on the ABC’s pioneering 1960s current affairs program This Day Tonight. He fronted many shows during his long career including George Negus Tonight and Australia Talks on the ABC, Nine’s Today and several news programs on the Ten Network.

His family said Negus “passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones” and thanked Australian healthcare workers for supporting him “in the best possible way” during his final moments.

“Despite the challenges diseases like Alzheimer’s inflict on families, we still shared beautiful times, laughter and happiness together in recent times,” the family said.

“We also learnt a lot.”

Last month one of his sons, Ned, said his father was in an aged care facility and was mostly “non-verbal”.

“For those of you who don’t know, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s around five years ago,” Ned wrote. “He’s now non verbal most of the time (mind-blowing for me but also any of you that know him).”

Negus was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 and was honoured for his significant service to the media as a journalist and television presenter, and to conservation and the environment.

In 2021 he was awarded a Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism, when it was noted there were few journalists in Australia as recognisable as George Negus.

“Known for his charisma, his peerless and fearless approach, and his signature moustache, he has reported through decades of technological, political and social change,” the Walkleys judges said.

Negus trained as a high school teacher and worked at Indooroopilly state high school in Queensland before getting his first reporting job at 28.

A longtime resident of Bellingen, Negus is survived by his partner, the journalist and collaborator Kirsty Cockburn, and their sons Serge and Ned.

“While we know he will be celebrated for his unique contribution to journalism, football, and the environment, he would also want to be remembered for the incredible family man he was,” his family’s statement read.

ABC managing director David Anderson said he learned of the death of George Negus with great sadness, adding that audiences saw him as a giant of Australian television and journalism.

“Among his many career achievements are his contributions to the ABC as a reporter for This Day Tonight in the 1960s and 1970s and as the founding host of Foreign Correspondent in the 1990s,” Anderson said.

“Australian audiences loved not only his natural charm but also his intellectual curiosity for the world around him.

“On behalf of everyone at the ABC, I extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”