Ex-ITN reporter Ken Rees dies of cancer aged 76 as colleagues pay tribute to 6ft 5in television news ‘legend’ who made his name covering the Falklands campaign and Gulf War
- Ken Rees was a familiar face on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s
- He reported from across the world covering stories including civil war in Beirut
- Was ITNs northern correspondent before being promoted to Washington office
- In Washington he worked alongside the then resident-reporter Jon Snow
Former ITN reporter Ken Rees has died of cancer aged 76.
Mr Rees was a familiar face on television throughout the 80s and 90s, reporting from across the world as he covered stories including the civil war in Beirut, the Falklands campaign and the first Gulf War in 1991.
Following his time as the broadcaster’s northern correspondent, Mr Rees was promoted to the ITN Washington office in the mid-80s to work alongside the then resident-reporter Jon Snow.
His talents were recognised in 1986 when he was named reporter of the year by the Royal Television Society, with judges praising him for ‘his ability to report effectively and sympathetically on every kind of story from hard news to personal human tragedy’.
Nigel Hancock, his former chief news editor at ITN, said: ‘Ken was a legend in television news.
‘He stood near six-and-a-half feet tall and when he came to town, its people knew it.
‘I have never known a reporter more determined to track down the news, to find that sometimes illusory truth.’
His former ITN colleague John Toker also paid tribute.
He said: ‘Ken Rees had a voracious appetite for a story and was ultra-competitive in his approach, an attitude which made him beloved of his ITN news editors and producers and feared by his opposites at the BBC and the American news organisations.
‘The fact that he stood 6ft 5in tall and, unusually for the time, wore a beard, meant he could impose himself and take charge of any media scrum. And he often did.’
Mr Rees is survived by his wife Lynne, son Christian, daughter Samantha, and three grandchildren.