Roger Mudd – Biography, Age, Spouse, Children, Net Worth

Quick Facts

Net Worth	Not Known
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Profession	Media Personalities

Though retired, Roger Mudd left a mark that resonates across the media industry during his active years as a broadcaster. He worked with several notable television and media outlets including NBC, CBS, PBS, and the History Channel in different capacities, as well as earned acclaim for his exploits.

Among other recognitions, Roger Mudd boasts a collection of prestigious awards including Peabody and Emmy Awards which he bagged for his special skills in rendering his services. One of his acclaimed works is the 1979 interview of politician Ted Kennedy which he conducted.

Roger Mudd’s Biography, Age

The retired American broadcaster was born on February 9, 1928, in Washington, D.C, the capital of the United States. His full name is Roger Harrison Mudd, born to the son of a tobacco farmer and the daughter of a farmer. His father, John Kostka Dominic Mudd, worked as a mapmaker for the United States Geological Survey while his mother, Irma Iris Harrison, served the country as a lieutenant for the U.S. Army Nursing Corps. His parents met at the physiotherapy ward in the Walter Reed Hospital where his mother also served.

As expected, Roger Mudd is amply educated. He finished high school from Woodrow Wilson High School and got his B.A. from Washington and Lee University in 1950 after which he pursued and got an M.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1953. He also did one semester at the University of Richmond School of Law but couldn’t continue.

He started his career in journalism in Richmond, Virginia, reporting for The Richmond News Leader, as well as the radio station WRNL. This was in 1953 and he contributed immensely to News Leader’s first story with a byline on June 19, 1953. He handled the daily noon newscast at WRNL radio and later landed his own daily broadcast, Virginia Headlines.

Towards the end of the 1950s, Roger Mudd relocated his career to Washington, D.C., where he got a job as a reporter with WTOP News, a local news department which covered some national stories as well. His time at the station saw him conduct his debut live TV studio interview with his guest being Dorothy Counts, a victim of racial harassment at her all-white high school in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Coincidentally, CBS News was located in the same building as WTOP and that was how he caught the attention of the media giant and was hired in 1961. For the most part of his stay at CBS News, Roger Mudd served as a Congressional correspondent. He also anchored the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News and filled in several other roles and conducted interviews. He cemented his stance among the best political reporters after conducting the popular Senator Ted Kennedy interview for a CBS Reports special on November 4, 1979.

Roger’s time with CBS News came to an end in 1980 after Dan Rather was awarded the weeknight anchor of the CBS Evening News which Roger was also gunning for. He then joined NBC News, co-anchoring the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. He also co-moderated the NBC Meet the Press program with Marvin Kalb, as well as co-anchored with Connie Chung on two NBC news magazines, American Almanac and 1986.

From 1987 to 1992, he worked with PBS and later became a visiting professor at Princeton University and Washington and Lee University. he did the latter from 1992 to 1996. The veteran broadcaster was also a primary anchor at The History Channel for more than a decade. To date, some of the programs he conducted are still repeated in reruns on the station. He retired from full-time broadcasting in 2004 but did documentaries for History Channel.

Mudd’s illustrious career deserves to be documented and on March 24th, 2008, the veteran published his memoir titled The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News which chronicles his experiences on the job.

Net Worth

Roger Mudd is one of those who conquered the media industry through decades of serving in different media outlets and capacities. There is no doubt therefore that he made a fortune out of it but nothing is known of his exact net worth at this time. He donated the sum of $4 million to his alma mater in 2010. The money was received by Washington and Lee University.

Spouse, Children

He has only married one woman and she was named Emma Jeanne Spears Mudd of Richmond, Virginia. Sadly, his wife died in 2011, leaving her husband and their four children behind. Their children are Daniel, Jonathan Mudd, Maria Mudd Ruth, and Matthew Mudd and they are doing very well in their different fields of endeavor. Roger Mudd is also a grandfather to at least eleven grandchildren.