Peter Cronkite, Grandson of Walter Cronkite, Dead at 22
Peter Cronkite, the 22-year-old grandson of the late, great TV newsman Walter Cronkite, was found dead in a dorm building at his college over the weekend. He took his own life.
Colby College, the Waterville, Maine, liberal arts school where Cronkite was majoring in classical civilization and minoring in cinema studies, announced his death in a public letter Monday.
“It is with deep sadness that I write to report that Peter Cronkite ‘15 took his own life this weekend,” college president David A. Greene wrote. “Peter’s death is devastating to his family, his many friends, and the entire Colby community. Our hearts are heavy as we try to come to terms with this tremendous loss.”
Greene described Cronkite, who would have graduated next month, as popular, intelligent, and engaged in both academics and athletics:
Peter was a dedicated member of the men’s rugby team and was sports editor of the Colby Echo. Peter had great passion for the ancient world, and he was slated to receive the department’s Foster Prize for Classical Civilization for achieving excellence in his major. His love of participating in athletics, which had been an important part of his life since he was very young, combined with his intelligence and kind, incredibly likeable personality, won him scores of friends and admirers at Colby.
In a New York Times obituary, his family remembers his love of sports and of film. He spent last summer working for “his beloved Mets,” coached youth hockey, and, as a kid, played Dennis the Menace in an animated film.
Peter is survived by his father, Walter “Chip” Cronkite III; his mother, the actress Deborah Rush; and his brother, Walter Cronkite IV.
No details of his death have been released.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK. It’s free and open 24 hours.
