Anthony I. Sylvester ’50

Portrait
Image
Body

Tony died Nov. 14, 2020, in Southern Shores, his home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the past 30 years. He was a three-time Emmy Award-winning TV anchorman in Washington, D.C.

Graduating from the Lawrenceville School, he followed his father, Class of 1923, to Princeton. He wrote and drew cartoons for The Daily Princetonian, drew cartoons for The Tiger, and majored in English in the American Civilization Program. He was a member of Dial. 

He started as a cub reporter for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida and was soon interrupted by the draft, which led to two years in the Army, where he trained as an infantryman and was editor of the Fort Knox newspaper. Before his long sojourn in Washington as a TV anchorman and White House correspondent, his career included freelance reporting from abroad, CBS News in Washington and New York, radio in Nashville, and weather and news in Jacksonville. All of which he simply described at our 50th as “chasing rainbows.”

Tony, who once owned a country-music radio station, was an avid writer and golfer. 

He is survived by four children, William, Anthony, Pamela, and Margit; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His second wife, Eda, died in 2019.

0 Responses

Join the conversation

Plain text

Full name and Princeton affiliation (if applicable) are required for all published comments. For more information, view our commenting policy. Responses are limited to 500 words for online and 250 words for print consideration.

Paw in print

Image
PAW's July/August 2025 issue cover, featuring a photo of people dressed in orange and black, marching in the P-rade, and the headline: Reunions, Back in Orange & Black.
The Latest Issue

July 2025

On the cover: Wilton Virgo ’00 and his classmates celebrate during the P-rade.