My New York Story: Geraldo Rivera

NEW YORK, NY MY NEW YORK STORY GERALDO RIVERA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN TV By Peter Elston

ustachioed reporter extraordinaire Geraldo Rivera celebrated his 50th Anniversary in television with I Am Geraldo, 50 years. The docuseries which takes you behind one of the scenes of one of journalism’s most storied careers is available to view now on Fox Nation, the Fox News digital platform.

Born in Brooklyn, his family moved to Long Island where he attended West Babylon High School. From there, he enrolled in the State University of New York Maritime College (1961-1963), where he became a member of the rowing team, and later transferred to the University of Arizona and graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration. After returning to New York in 1966, the young Rivera enrolled in Brooklyn Law School and subsequently held internships with the New York District Attorney’s office under legendary crime-fighter Frank Hogan, before receiving his J.D. in 1969. He was admitted to the New York State Bar later that year.

“In the words of Jerry Garcia, it’s been a long, strange ride,” said Rivera, who has never made an appearance without his trademark mustache over five decades. “I’m like an old friend to so many people now. It’s more than credibility, it’s familiarity, and I honor that, I treasure that. It’s my most important resource and my most valuable asset.”

BROADCAST SUCCESS

The four-part series follows Rivera’s career from littleknown New York reporter for Eyewitness News back in the 1970s, into international stardom—and the bumps along the way, including his infamous live coverage of the opening of gangster Al Capone’s vault.

In it the Emmy and Peabody-award winning correspondent reflects on his most high-profile investigations, beginning with his epic expose on the conditions of the Willowbrook State School. In 1972, the 28-year old reporter for WABC-TV snuck into the institution on Staten Island and found proof of a dangerously overcrowded, filthy. and poorly maintained facility. Scenes from inside Willowbrook were beyond comprehension, and the local news story was watched by millions.

In that riveting crusade to close America’s grim institutions for the developmentally disabled, Rivera made history. His reporting at Willowbrook is still being taught today in every school of social work in the nation, forever changing attitudes about the care and treatment of the mentally challenged.

“I know I would have been famous, I would have been, you know, a New York celebrity,” he said. “I won my first Columbia DuPont award in 1971, a few months before Willowbrook. But Willowbrook kind of supercharged all that.”

Geraldo Rivera ©Fox News