SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Bay Area community is coming together Monday to honor the life of legendary journalist Belva Davis. A public memorial will be held at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco beginning at 11 a.m
The service is broadcast live on KRON4.com.
Davis, who died in September at age 92, was a pioneer in the media industry as the first woman of color to work as a television news reporter on the West Coast. She spent five decades working in the Bay Area at three major television stations, including KRON4.
Throughout her career, Davis has interviewed countless influential figures, including Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, the Black Panthers, and every president from Ronald Reagan to George Bush. She covered September 11 and Jonestown.
She has won eight Emmy Awards and was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Hall of Fame in 2008. Davis retired in 2012.
“We both started from humble beginnings, but have managed to build lives beyond any of our wildest dreams,” said her husband, Bill Moore. “The thing we enjoyed most was traveling the world from the Bay Area to parts near and far. We started our lives together during a time of social unrest but were committed to raising our family to make a difference.”
“My mother was the heart and soul of our family. She was the engine that drove me, my brother and my father to the end. She instilled in us the confidence to dream big and to face every challenge with integrity and commitment. She used to say if you can dream it, you can do it. We miss her terribly,” said Darolyn Davis, Belva’s daughter.
Grace Cathedral is located at 1100 California Street.