R.I.P.: Bloomberg Radio Anchor Ken Prewitt

Ken Prewitt

Ken Prewitt, a Bloomberg Radio anchor who interviewed billionaire investors, Wall Street executives and a former Federal Reserve chairman in a news career with jobs at CBS and ABC television, has died.

He was 68, according to Bloomberg.

He died Saturday at his home in Manhattan, according to his wife, Faye Prewitt. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2012 and went on leave the following year.

Tall, lean and white-haired, Prewitt was the daily host of Bloomberg Radio’s “The First Word” show at 5 a.m. in New York, covering economic, business and market news, and co-hosted “Bloomberg Surveillance” at 7 a.m., focusing on interviews and analysis, and “Bloomberg Businessweek Radio,” a weekend program of features.

“There was something very reassuring about Ken’s delivery on the radio,” Michael Bloomberg, founder, chief executive officer and majority shareholder of Bloomberg LP, owner of Bloomberg News, said in an e-mail. “He was authoritative and knowledgeable and just as much a part of our morning routine as having breakfast or getting a cup of coffee.”

From his start at New York-based Bloomberg in 2005, Prewitt interviewed newsmakers including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens, and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.