Gwen Ifill Obituary 9/29/1955 - 11/14/2016 Gwen Ifill (Frederick M. Brown / Getty) Gwen Ifill, a veteran newspaper and television journalist who served as moderator and managing editor of the Public Broadcasting Service's talk show "Washington Week," died Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, of cancer, according to the network. She was 61. Ifill also co-anchored the "PBS NewsHour" with Judy Woodruff. "It is with extreme sadness that we share the news that Gwen Ifill passed away earlier today surrounded by family and friends," said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger in a news statement. "Gwen was one of America's leading lights in journalism and a fundamental reason public media is considered a trusted window on the world by audiences across the nation. Her contributions to thoughtful reporting and civic discourse simply cannot be overstated. She often said that her job was to bring light rather than heat to issues of importance to our society." Television viewers may also remember Ifill's role in moderating two debates of candidates for vice president: between John Edwards and Richard Cheney in 2004, and between Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden in 2008. Click to get weekly celebrity death news delivered to your inbox. She was born Sept. 29, 1955, in New York, New York. In 1977, she graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, with a bachelor's degree in communications. She worked for several newspapers, including The Washington Post and The New York Times. In October 1999, she became a moderator of PBS' "Washington Week in Review." Ifill also was the author of "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," in 2009.