Host Of ABC News Show 'Nightline'

Ted Koppel | Biography

Author of 'Light's Out'

• By Chetana
• Update : June 20, 2022

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Who is Ted Koppel?

Edward James Martin Koppel was born on 8 February 1940 in Lancashire, England. At the age of 13, his parents relocated to the United States, where he completed his high school. He went to Syracuse University to receive a Bachelor of Science degree and then completed his M.A. from Stanford in Mass Communications Research and Political Science.

After college, he briefly worked as a teacher, then joined WMCA Radio in New York City as a desk assistant and occasional off-air reporter. 

Then at the age of 23, in 1963, Koppel landed the position of full-time general assignment journalist at ABC News New York. By 1964, he was covering presidential campaigns, and in 1968 he became the Miami bureau chief for ABCNEWS. 

From 1969 until 1971, he was sent to the Hong Kong bureau to head ABCNEWS, where he reported on issues ranging from Vietnam to Australia. Upon return to the United States in 1971, he became the network's top diplomatic reporter. He also hosted the ABC Saturday Night News for two years, beginning in 1975. 

Eventually, in 1980, ABC News launched its staple show Nightline, to which Koppel was taken as the anchor. He was the primary on-air reporter and interviewer for television's first late-night network news program and served as the program's managing editor. 

After he began hosting the Nightline, Koppel was known as the face of ABC News. Throughout those years, he collected numerous prestigious accolades in journalism. Koppel bagged 37 'Emmy Awards,' six 'George Foster Peabody Awards,' ten 'duPont-Columbia Awards,' and nine 'Overseas Press Club Awards. In addition, he has two 'George Polk Awards' followed by two 'Sigma Delta Chi Awards,' which are the Society of Professional Journalists' highest distinction for public service.

Author of 'Lights Out'

In 2015, Koppel launched his prominent book, 'Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath.' In the book, he talked about the possibilities of terrorists or a hostile foreign state taking down the American electrical infrastructure through a hack or an electromagnetic pulse strike. 

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Koppel gathered the theories and circumstances from his decade's worth of experiences. He has attempted to show readers why the danger is real, the extent to which the authorities are unprepared, and the steps we can take now to be ready when the power goes out. 

Is ted Koppel still alive? 

As of 2022, Koppel is alive and well. But unfortunately, his only son, Andrew Koppel, died on 31 May 2010. 

Andrew was an attorney who completed his studies at Georgetown Law School. On the night of 30 May, he accidentally died due to acute intoxication caused by the combined effects of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, diazepam, the generic version of Valium, and Levamisole, a medicine used to cut other narcotics.

Ted and his wife, Grace Dorney Koppel, made their initial formal statements on Andrew's accidental death. 

Ted Koppel's Wife

Koppel married Grace Anne Dorney, a former New York Attorney turned health advocate. They met while studying at Stanford and married on 17 May 1963. They had four children, three daughters, and one son. 

Dorney completed her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center during the 1970s. And while she was studying, Koppel took a year off to care for children and stayed home. She eventually graduated and practiced both criminal and civil litigation. 

Unfortunately, in 2001, Dorney was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and told she only had three to few years to live.

Nevertheless, Dorney and Koppel chose to fight the disease and went through pulmonary rehabilitation, where they prescriptively controlled her surroundings and food. As a result, she continues to live to date but requires extensive care. 

The couple also established a charity foundation where they conduct awareness and raise funding for pulmonary diseases. Their foundation is called The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers. 

While in 2016, they also became the president of the National COPD Foundation.