John Palmer, NBC News veteran, died on Saturday. He worked in the White House and was the NBC correspondent for two presidential administrations. He also anchored the coverage of the Challenger disaster.

He was a native of Tenessee. According to NBC, he died after suffering from an illness.

"John was a brilliant, brave and tireless journalist who guided viewers through many of the most significant events of the past half-century -- from the early days of the civil rights movement through the tragedy of 9/11," NBC News said in a statement. "He covered five presidents and traveled to every corner of the world, always showing the empathy and compassion that helped set him apart."

He graduated from Northwestern University and Columbia University. In 1962, Palmer joined NBC. For the most part, Palmer spent a lot of his earlier years overseas. He was the correspondent for the Arab-Israeli war on October 1973. He was also covered Paris in 1976 and 1979.

In 1980, he earned the Merriman Smith Memorial Award due to his report on the unsuccessful attempt to rescue the American hostages being held in Iran.

From 1982 to 1989, he became the news anchor for "Today."

Palmer interviewed a lot of popular figures in history such as Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat and also United States Presidents, from Gerald Ford to Ronald Reagan.

In 1990, he left NBC to work with Monitor Radio and Television. 5 years later, he would return to NBC and will stay for 7 years. In 2002, he was already retired.

The news of his death caused a lot of people to say their praises and admiration for the NBC veteran. Deborah Norville, tweeted that Palmer was "kind, welcoming (and) helpful to me years ago." She was the one who replaced him as the news anchor for "Today." This is a sad event for the news media field as it lost one of its greatest news reporter.