Bill Gallagher

Bill Gallagher, a beloved former reporter for WJBK-TV (Detroit) who spent decades covering news for the station, has died. Gallagher, 79, had been dealing with "a number of health issues," the station reported Friday, July 24, and had been living at home in Lewiston, New York, under hospice care.

Gallagher came to WJBK-TV in 1985 from a TV news team in Oklahoma City, where he earned a Peabody Award for his investigative work on the abuse and neglect of children in Oklahoma state institutions.

He spent the following three decades reporting the news to viewers in Metro Detroit and beyond.  The station called him "a wonderful journalist with a brilliant mind."

Former Fox 2 news manager Mort Meiser said Gallagher was among the best reporters he'd ever worked with. "Moreover and more importantly, Bill was a wonderful man. Very caring and more than anything, I know how much he loved his family," Meisner said in a social media post.

After retiring, Gallagher returned to western New York to be closer to his family. He left behind a legacy of solid work and the wisdom he shared with interns and newcomers to broadcast journalism, including this practical advice attributed to him by Fox 2 Detroit: “Always bring two pens, a notebook with your name on it, comfortable shoes and an empty bladder.”