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Russell H. Ewing (December 28, 1923 – June 25, 2019) was an American broadcast journalist in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
from 1967 to the late 1990s. Working for
WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on North Stat ...
(ABC affiliate) and
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...
(NBC affiliate), he established a reputation as an investigative journalist, and became known as a go-between who negotiated more than 115 surrenders to police of wanted felons, often wanted for murder.


Early life

Russ Ewing was born in Chicago. At the age of seven he was orphaned, first taken in by an aunt, and later adopted by a neighboring family. Following attendance at Englewood High School, he became a firefighter in Chicago. In the 1960s he began work as a film courier for WMAQ, and first appeared on-camera in 1967.


Career

In the 1970s Ewing won awards for investigative reporting on abuses at Chicago's animal shelter and on discriminatory lending practices by Chicago-area banks. In 1974 he won an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for his reports on conditions at the
Cook County Jail The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. A city jail has existed on this site since after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but major County prisoners were not generally coll ...
, where he had posed as an inmate for two days. Ewing won eight more Emmys in his career. In 1975 Ewing convinced a murder suspect to surrender to police, and the following year Ewing and publisher
Gus Savage Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an American entrepreneur, publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Life and career Savage was born in Detroit, M ...
negotiated the surrender of two robbers who had taken hostages. Following his move to WLS, he continued to arrange for surrenders, eventually reaching as many as 115 surrenders. Ewing aired the first interview with serial killer
John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as ...
in 1980 following Gacy's conviction, and in 1986 established the identity of a previously unidentified victim of Gacy's. Working with dental records, Ewing identified victim Timothy McCoy. Ewing retired from WLS in 1995, briefly returning in 1998 to WMAQ as a special correspondent. An accomplished pianist, he formed the Russ Ewing Trio in 1981. Following a childhood interest in aviation, he obtained a private pilot's license and occasionally used his personal airplane in surrenders. The podcast ''
Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
'' produced an episode about the life and career of Russ Ewing, "Call Russ Ewing."


Death

He died from complications of bladder cancer on June 25, 2019, at the age of 95, at his home in
Paw Paw, Michigan Paw Paw is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,534 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Van Buren County. Overview The village is located at the confluence of the east and south branches of the Paw Paw Riv ...
.


See also

*
Crisis negotiation Crisis negotiation is a law enforcement technique used to communicate with people who are threatening violenceStrentz, Thomas (2006). ''Psychological aspects of crisis negotiation.'' CRC Press, ( workplace violence, domestic violence, suicide, ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewing, Russ 1923 births 2019 deaths American television reporters and correspondents Journalists from Chicago 20th-century American journalists American male journalists African-American journalists American adoptees 20th-century American firefighters American investigative journalists Deaths from cancer in Michigan African-American pianists Deaths from bladder cancer in the United States American crime reporters 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people