Beloved NY1 journalist Ruschell Boone died Sunday evening at the age of 48 after losing a brutal battle with pancreatic cancer.
“She was a dedicated and principled journalist to the very end,” NY1 confirmed her death in an internal email shared with the New York Post. “In her last week with us, she was still working on ideas for her show and sharing thoughts for making NY1 a continued beacon of truth for New Yorkers.”
“Ruschell recently shared that every day we spend with our loved ones is a victory,” the internal memo said. “Ruschell made every moment feel victorious and every day feel special. We’re heartbroken we won’t get to have more days with her.”
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Who was Ruschell Boone?
Boone worked as a reporter and news anchor for over two decades at NY1. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2021 when she developed a vague stomach discomfort that worsened and led to a trip to the emergency room.
“I just started wailing, crying and looking at my husband, thinking I heard it incorrectly,” she had told The Post after the diagnosis. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m dead’ … My kids are going to grow up without a mother.”
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For almost a year since June 2022, Boone stepped away from her role at the anchor desk to receive chemotherapy.
She returned to the anchor chair for the Charter Communications-owned network in March. She told her devoted viewers that the chemo was “so brutal,” but she was back to “feeling great.”
She interviewed New York City Mayor Eric Adams, after making a comeback on NY1. He tweeted that “our city is so lucky to have @RuschellBoone back where she belongs — behind the anchor desk and holding all of us in positions of power to account.”
Just four months after being declared cancer-free, Boone revealed on social media that her battle with cancer had taken a turn for the worse.
She is survived by her husband, Todd, and her two sons, Jackson, 12, and Carter, 9.