ALBANY, NY. (THECOUNT) — Ed Dague, former WNYT NewsChannel 13 news anchor and managing editor, has died, according to multiple reports. He was 76.

Dague had been battling an long fought illness.

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Dague began his work in broadcasting in the 1960s. He spent the last 19 years of his career at WNYT. Ankylosing spondylitis — a crippling and progressive form of arthritis — forced him into retirement in 2003, reports WNYT.

Dague was born in Buffalo and studied electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He started broadcasting on the school’s radio station, WRPI, as a freshman. He was hired in his senior year to run the school’s AM station WHAZ. He joined the technical staff at WTEN in 1966 while also working as a disc jockey at WOKO and later WPTR. He returned to WOKO in 1968 as news director. Dague became the main daytime news anchor at WGY in 1969. He became WRGB’s assignment editor in 1970 and also produced the station’s 6 p.m. newscast. Dague became WRGB’s weekend anchor and political reporter in 1973. He continued reporting after becoming the station’s weekday 6 and 11 p.m. anchor in 1976. Dague left WRGB for WNYT in 1984.

His work earned him several awards over the course of his career, including the Associated Press Award for Individual Reporting. He was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.
Dague and his wife Donna had two children.

Geo quick facts: Albany is the capital city of New York State. Downtown’s huge Empire State Plaza has reflecting pools, an art-filled underground shopping concourse and The Egg, a striking performing arts center. The plaza is bookended by the 1800s New York State Capitol and the New York State Museum, focusing on natural and cultural history. The Albany Institute of History and Art is famed for its Hudson River School paintings – wikipedia.