R.I.P.: Jim Tilmon, Former Chicago News Anchor

Jim Tilmon

Jim Tilmon, a trusted Chicago TV newsman, meteorologist and pioneering aviator, has died at 86 in Arizona, where he’d retired.

The Sun-Times reports Tilmon died Saturday afternoon, according to Frank Whittaker, station manager of WMAQ-TV, where Tilmon worked for more than 22 years. The Emmy Award-winning broadcaster worked four more years at WTTW-TV.

Tilmon also was one of the nation’s first Black commercial airline pilots and the third African American pilot hired by American Airlines, for which he flew for 29 years.

He did this in an era when some white passengers mistook his uniform for that of a skycap and tried to tip him to carry their luggage.

On TV, his authoritative voice and aviation expertise made for a reassuring on-air presence, especially when there were near-misses or plane crashes. Tilmon would use model airplanes to demonstrate to the viewing audience what had gone wrong.

Mr. Tilmon died about five months after the passing of his son, also named Jim Tilmon. The younger 

Though he retired from TV around 2005, Mr. Tilmon remained a popular figure in Chicago. When he’d come back for visits and walk down Michigan Avenue, he was stopped constantly by people who said they’d watched him for years and trusted his reporting.