Bill Bonds.

DETROIT — Iconic news anchorman Bill Bonds died Saturday, Dec. 13 after suffering a heart attack at his Bloomfield Hills home.  He was 82. Bonds and co-anchor Diana Lewis dominated Detroit’s television market for years.  

“He helped mold my career,” Lewis said. “He influenced my person as a woman. He was just so well versed on so many topics and subjects. He was so well read. He impressed me. He cared. Bill Bonds cared so much and I just feel privileged to be the first woman to ever sit down by this man on the anchor desk. Bill Bonds was the best TV anchor this market has ever seen when it came to being a newsman.” 

Bonds’ career in broadcast journalism at WXYZ Channel 7 spanned from the mid-1960s until the mid-1990s, except for a short tenure in Los Angeles in the late 60s and early 70s (during which time he appeared as himself in the 1971 film “Escape From the Planet of the Apes.”). He joined WXYZ in 1963 as a part-time booth announcer. He and WXYZ first came to prominence for the station’s coverage of the 1967 Detroit riots.

Despite his successful career, Bonds battled alcohol addiction. In 1995 Channel 7 fired Bonds only months after a drunken driving arrest. Following the arrest, Bonds received treatment for several months at an Atlanta facility. People who new Bonds well said he was never the same after losing his daughter in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. 

Former colleagues and friends of Bonds remembered him for his humor, wit and charm. They said he can never be replaced. 

“It is the end of an era, said Val Clark, former Channel 7 reporter. “There will never be another. Not just broadcasting, but journalism; and that’s the legacy that he leaves behind.” 

Bonds inspired so many throughout his career, including Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News. 

 “We lost a legend today,” Siblani said. “Bill Bonds was an inspiration to countless journalists, including myself. I had the honor of knowing him and appeared on Channel 7 to share my views on issues facing the Arab community over the years. I didn’t always agree with him, but we always respected each other. Both on and off camera, Bill Bonds was a gentleman and a very fair journalist. We will never forget his contributions to journalism or Detroit.”

Huel Perkins, an anchorman at FOX 2, said Bonds was, “one of the greatest anchorman in the history of television.” 

Detroit’s television market has not been the same since Bonds left the anchor desk more than two decades ago. 

“Every day he had something different to say that would make a difference in the way people received the news,” said Channel 7 reporter Glenda Lewis. “How the news should be presented. He cared. Bill Bonds cared so much.” 

Bonds inspired generations of journalists to pursue a career in the profession. 

“I would not be at channel 7 and a reporter were it not for Bill Bonds, and I know that is true of so many,” said channel 7 reporter Ross Jones. 

Bonds was very well versed on so many subjects because he read so many newspapers and magazines on a daily basis. 

 “Bill knew everything about every story,” said former Channel 7 reporter Mary Conway. “He would read everything that he could. He would always tell us that he would read every newspaper, every magazine and he would tell us to do the same. He would tell us to go out and not leave a stone unturned on the story, because he was going to question us at the end,” 

Bonds’ funeral was Friday at Holy Name Catholic Church in Birmingham. His visitation was Thursday.