Walter Cronkite reportedly gravely ill

updated 12:36 p.m. ET June 29, 2009

NEW YORK - CBS isn’t commenting on reports that veteran newsman Walter Cronkite is gravely ill.

The 92-year-old former anchor of “The CBS Evening News,” who has been ailing for some time, has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites.

CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco had no comment on Friday.

Bob Schieffer said, “All of us are praying for the best, and our thoughts are with Walter’s family.” The host of CBS’ “Face the Nation” and a longtime Cronkite colleague, Schieffer noted that he had no current news on Cronkite’s condition.

Cynthia Dicrocco, Cronkite's executive assistant, told Boston.com's The Names Blog, “His condition is being grossly exaggerated. He’s dealing with the challenges of being a 92-year-old man.”

Dicrocco told the blog that Cronkite had been sick, but was recuperating at his home in New York.

The face of CBS News for more than two decades, Cronkite was named “the most trusted man in America” in a 1972 “trust index” survey, and he ended each broadcast with the reassuring signoff, “And that’s the way it is.”

He left the “Evening News” anchor desk in 1981, but after that kept a busy schedule both in journalistic and other activities.

For 24 years, he served as onsite host for New Year’s Day telecasts by the Vienna Philharmonic until ill health forced him to bow out earlier this year.

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