Jim Hartz, a former Today co-host, died at 82

After years as a correspondent and anchor, Hartz joined Barbara Walters on-air in the 1970s.

Jim Hartz, a former NBC News correspondent and anchor who co-hosted Today in the 1970s with Barbara Walters, died earlier this month. He was 82 years old.

According to his wife, Alexandra, the cause of Hartz's death was a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to the New York Times also Washington Post.

According to the Times, she stated that he had chosen to be removed from the ventilator that was keeping him alive. Hartz, known for his laid-back style and cheerful, warm demeanor on air, had already built a loyal fan base when he took over the Today desk from Frank McGee in 1974, at 34.

He'd already spent more than a decade covering everything from Robert F. Kennedy's funeral to Watergate for New York City's flagship station, WNBC.

Though his tenure at Today lasted only two years, Hartz covered numerous landmark events in American history, including President Richard Nixon's resignation, the end of the Vietnam War, and the bicentennial of the United States.

Hartz also covered several space shuttle launches, including the Apollo 15 spacecraft launch. In a 1974 interview with The Christian Science Monitor, he stated that surrounding NASA events could be so overwhelming that he would sometimes forget what he said on camera.

"I just wasn't prepared for that 36-story building walking right off the platform into the air," Hartz said of his first rocket launch.

Hartz, who was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1940, attended the University of Tulsa, intending to study medicine but quickly realized that his heart wasn't in it.

According to him, by his junior year of college, he began to pursue a newfound passion for journalism and quickly saw his career take off.