R.I.P.: Don Farmer, An Original CNN News Anchor

Chris Curle, Don Farmer

Don Farmer, one of CNN’s original on-air anchors who later worked at WSB-TV, died Tuesday in Naples, Florida.  He was 82, reports ajc.com.

The family said he died from complications related to progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological brain disorder.

Farmer was married for 49 years to Chris Curle who he met while working at ABC News.  They left ABC News together in 1980 to join Ted Turner’s brand new satellite-driven, all-news cable network CNN. They hosted the network’s first noon-time show together called “Take Two.” It was more personality-driven and more conversational than the other programs at launch and featured interviews.

Flip Spiceland, an original meteorologist for CNN, said given their background with network news, Farmer and Curle were held in higher esteem than many other anchors. “Like the rest of us,” he said, “they came to CNN wanting to do something different, work under that charismatic umbrella of Ted Turner and stick a thumb in the eye of the three major networks.”

Farmer and Curle worked at CNN for seven years until WSB-TV recruited them as anchors.

Greg Stone, WSB-TV general manager in the 1990s called Farmer “a perfectionist in his writing, in his reporting, in his preparation. He was just a pro.”

Farmer retired with Curle in 1997 and moved to Florida to take care of aging parents on Marco Island, where Farmer will be buried.

Farmer grew up in St. Louis and dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. He attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and roomed with Skip Caray, the future Braves broadcaster. After Farmer received his journalism degree, he worked briefly with NBC News but moved to ABC News in 1965 as a correspondent at just age 26.