News Tonight that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and was starting chemotherapy treatment the following week. "As some of you now know, I have learned in the last couple of days that I have lung cancer," he said. "Yes, I was a smoker until about 20 years ago, and I was weak and I smoked over 9/11. But whatever the reason, the news does slow you down a bit." Although he stated his intention to continue anchoring whenever possible, the message was to be his last appearance on television. Throughout the summer, Charles Gibson, co-host of Good Morning America, and Elizabeth Vargas, co-host of 20/20, served as temporary anchors. On April 29, 2005, Jennings posted a letter on ABCNews.com with an update of his status and expressing thanks to those who had offered him their good wishes and prayers. In June, Jennings visited the ABC News headquarters, and addressed staff members in an emotional scene in the World News Tonight newsroom; he thanked Gibson for closing each broadcast with the phrase, "for Peter Jennings and all of us at ABC News." During his visit, however, his colleagues noticed he was ill to the point where he could barely speak. He posted another short letter of thanks on July 29, 2005, his 67th birthday. Death On August 7, 2005, less than a month after Jennings's 67th birthday, just after 11:30 pm EDT, Charles Gibson broke into local news in the eastern U.S. and regular programming on ABC's western affiliates to announce Jennings's death from lung cancer. He read a short statement from the family, and disclosed that Jennings had died in his New York apartment with his fourth wife, two children by his marriage to Kati Marton, and sister at his side. The anchor's ABC colleagues, including Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, and Ted Koppel, shared their thoughts on Jennings's death. The next morning, Brokaw and Rather fondly remembered their former rival on the morning news shows. "Peter, of the three of us, was our prince," said Brokaw on Today. "He seemed so timeless. He had such élan and style." Canada's television networks led off their morning news shows with the news of Jennings's death and had remembrances from their "big three" anchors, Peter Mansbridge at the CBC, Lloyd Robertson at CTV, and Kevin Newman (himself a former colleague of Jennings at ABC) at Global. American President George W. Bush