Jessica Savage Biography
Jessica Savage better known in full as Jessica Beth Savage was an American television news presenter and correspondent. She was best known for being the weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News and daily presenter of NBC News updates during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Jessica Savage Age
Savage was born February 1, 1947, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles west of Philadelphia, and passed on in October 1983 at the age of 36. (February 1, 1947 – October 23, 1983}
Jessica Savage Height
By the time of her death, she had an estimated height of 1.55m and a weight of 66 kg.
Jessica Savage Family
She was the eldest daughter of Florence (née Goldberger), a navy nurse, and David Savage, who ran a clothing store. Her father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, and her maternal grandmother was Italian American and Catholic. After her father died at age 33 in 1959, her family moved to Margate City, New Jersey (a suburb of Atlantic City), where she attended Atlantic City High School. According to her two biographers, Gwenda Blair and Alanna Nash, Savage was haunted throughout her life by her father’s untimely death and pursued a career partly to compensate for the loss. While in high school in Atlantic City, Savage got a job co-hosting a show for teenagers on the radio station WOND in Pleasantville, New Jersey. She enjoyed the work and soon became a newsreader and disc jockey for WOND as well. She was the first female disc jockey in that area.
Jessica Savage Husband
Savage was married to Mel Korn, a Philadelphia advertising executive, but the marriage ended in divorce after less than one year. She was married in 1981 to Dr. Donald R. Payne, an obstetrician-gynecologist, but five months later her husband died in their home, an apparent suicide. Savage is survived by her mother and two sisters, Lori and Stephanie Savitch of Margate, N.J. Information on whether she had children or not is not available.
Jessica Savage Car Accident
At the height of her fame, she was known for Gucci belts, Halston dresses, piles of cocaine, penthouses, and pills. Her end came in an Oldsmobile station wagon. They called her the Golden Girl of TV news, and for good reason. Jessica Savage seemed to have the world at her fingers. At KHOU she was hailed as the first anchorwoman in the South (although that would be contested). At KYW in Philadelphia, she carved a stylish, hard-hitting niche with flawless looks, tough talk, and in-depth stories.
But all was not right in Jessica’s world. The only man she ever really loved to beat her terribly. Drug use led to promiscuity and sometimes threatened her standing at the station. The networks wanted her, but Westinghouse had ironclad contracts – so she acted out and became a general terror to all. The reputation followed her to NBC. She was made Senate correspondent but she was in over her head. Resentment from coworkers hurt them and led to her eventually being pulled off the Senate beat. Jessica’s time at NBC was filled with uncertainty, and with the uncertainty came drug use. But the public loved her, as it did in Philadelphia.
Divorce
Jessica had one divorce, then met a doctor with even worse drug troubles than hers, and married him. She had a pet husky named Chewy the doctor hated. She came back to DC after anchoring the weekend news in New York and found her husband hanging from her dog’s leash in the basement. Friends say this started a long, dark spiral that ended with her death. But through all this time, her relationship with the viewing public never faltered – until October 3, 1983:
She said she was healing after recent plastic surgery, was tired, faint, and had a glass of wine on an empty stomach – there were lots of excuses. NBC didn’t know what to do. The powers that be were convinced Jessica was going insane and would kill herself. Linda Ellerbee grew concerned and gathered a group to stage an intervention. It was to happen on a Monday.
NBC News
Shortly before her death in October 1983, Savage also became known for her live broadcast of a short NBC News update in which her delivery was erratic and she appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The incident caused widespread speculation that she was abusing drugs. She died three weeks later by drowning when a car in which she was a passenger accidentally drove into a canal during a heavy rainstorm. No drugs and very little alcohol were present in her system at the time of her death.
Savage was one of the first women to anchor an evening network news broadcast alone, following in the footsteps of Marlene Sanders of ABC News and Catherine Mackin of NBC News. She also hosted PBS’s public affairs documentary program Frontline from its January 1983 debut until her death in an automobile accident later that year.
Jessica Savage’s Social Media Accounts
Savage is active on social media and she posts personal and work-related stuff from time to time. She has over 2000 followers on Instagram, about 1500 on Facebook, and around 2300 on Twitter.