Broadcast/Podcast Team member David Melendy dies
David Melendy, a 32-year APRadio anchor and correspondent and a 21-year member of the National Press Club, died April 18 at George Washington Hospital. He was 71 and had cancer.
At the Club, Melendy was an active member of the Broadcast/Podcast Team. He invested much time and effort on press freedom and media literacy causes, producing and hosting podcasts delving into these critically important subjects.
Club President Michael Freedman, who as head of the UPI Radio organization competed with AP's Melendy, remembered David for his "deep and abiding love of journalism and broadcasting." Melendy launched his career as a broadcaster at WRGW, the student-run station at GW.
When not anchoring, Melendy especially enjoyed covering Congress and the White House, his wife Lorna recalls. He traveled to cover breaking news including space launches.
Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, he spent most of his youth in Manchester, Connecticut. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Hartford, he began his professional career as a one-person news department for WINY in rural Putnam, Connecticut. Before The Associated Press, he worked at Connecticut stations WPOP Hartford; WNVR Waterbury and WDRC Hartfrod, before moving to WCBS-FM in New York.
Former Club President Mark Hamrick worked with Melendy at APR and remembers that he "understood computers long before any of us knew what we were doing with them in the newsroom."
Camille Bohannon, another Club and APR colleague remembered a day when she was asked to fill in on the network's financial desk, which she had never done before. "David helped me so much .... He was gentle, specific and ... totally got me ready to do it," she said.
He was awarded the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow award for coverage of 9/11. Melendy was an Eagle Scout and was active in his Boy Scout Troop helping young men attain the Eagle rank.
Besides his wife Lorna and two sons, Seth and Andrew, David is survived by two sisters, Doriene Steeves and Muriel Tobery. Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.
