NEW YORK (AP) — Walter Cronkite didn’t just live the life of an anchorman. He invented and embodied it.

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He fulfilled the ideal of an anchorman before viewers even knew what to expect from the position, or from TV news in general.

Of course, Cronkite wasn’t the first reporter to sit behind a desk and feed headlines to a camera. Newscasters, news readers and other talking heads preceded him into the television frontier.

But something set Cronkite apart from other TV pioneers, something that became more evident over time. As a communicator, he was authoritative yet companionable. He was a man the public understood and believed. With printer’s ink in his veins and a wire-service background, he was a seasoned newsman and no stranger to a microphone. But he was looking ahead for the breakthrough medium where he belonged. He found it in TV, where he was a perfect fit for this new journalistic adventure.

Joining CBS’ Washington bureau in 1950, Cronkite (with a support staff of one) was handed the task of hosting a nightly TV newscast on the startup local station. By April 1962, he had handled a decade’s-worth of high-profile network assignments. Then one Friday, he was told that, starting Monday, he was anchoring the network’s prized evening newscast, until then known as “Douglas Edwards With the News.” It would become “CBS News With Walter Cronkite.”

Cronkite’s 19-year stretch as the evening news anchor, and all the hour-upon-hour breaking news stories he anchored, frames a crucial era in the nation’s history. It was also a pivotal era in TV news, which came of age on Cronkite’s watch and, in no small part thanks to him, accustomed the public to count on TV to learn what’s going on.

“And that’s the way it is,” Cronkite summed up in his bouncy cadence, signing off with a reassurance gratefully accepted by viewers in those often stormy, sometimes mind-blowing years.

On March 6, 1981, Cronkite retired from the anchor desk. He was 64, and a change of routine may have seemed like a good idea. Although it was not entirely his idea, since CBS was eager to get his heir apparent, Dan Rather, sworn in right away.

Cronkite’s goodbye reflected an overabundance of modesty as well as misguided faith in his employer’s pledge to keep him busy and productive after leaving the “Evening News” anchor desk.

“Those who have made anything of this departure, I’m afraid, have made too much,” he told an enormous audience convened in some 18 million households.

Just three weeks later, President Ronald Reagan was the victim of an attempted assassination.

“I realized right away I’d made a mistake,” Cronkite told me in 2001. “I shouldn’t have gotten off that desk!

“Every big story, I think about it,” he went on, at that moment referring to the latest big story: 9/11, just three months before.

But even “off that desk,” Cronkite never disappeared from the airwaves or from the nation’s consciousness. He retained his standing as a trusted source of information (and, when he felt obliged to voice them, opinions) for another quarter-century.

Even viewers too young to have seen him with any regularity have benefited from his example: a newsman who never betrayed the enormous trust the public long ago learned to place in him.

He remains the archetype for what, today, has come to be disparaged as the “voice of God anchor.” But the criticism has mostly been borne by lesser TV personalities, far too many of them on broadcast and cable talk marathons.

But no one ever thought of Cronkite as God. He was Uncle Walter.

And he never lost the common touch that helped inspire his lasting nickname.

While interviewing Cronkite for a video in 2004, I tried, without bellowing too loud to be rude, to broach the fact that he had become hard of hearing.

“Hard of hearing!” Cronkite replied with a what-are-ya-gonna-do? chuckle. “I’m deaf as a post!”

I saw his grandly ordinary streak the first time I met him. That was 1993, when he had made a documentary series for a cable network through his independent production company. He wanted to talk about it.

In pinstriped jacket and slacks, seated in a wing chair in his handsome corner office, he looked every bit the elder statesman of TV journalism. And, I admit it, I felt thrown momentarily, confronting face-to-face someone so suited to the TV screen where I had followed him since childhood.

But there was no loftiness or star display. Cronkite made small talk. He discussed his program, which dealt with global defense for America. He even asked me some questions.

That would have been enough to make him seem like a regular guy. But then something happened on an even more telling level. As we shared conversation and morning coffee, Cronkite, in mid-sentence, rose from his chair and stepped across to his desk, where, from a drawer, he fetched a Bic pen. His coffee needed stirring and, with no spoon available, he knew a simple ball point pen would get the job done.

Then, satisfied with his coffee, he returned to his chair and gave the sweet roll he was having for breakfast a good dunking.

In the no-nonsense company of Cronkite, known as the most trusted man in America, I felt my trust in him go up another notch.

Obama: Cronkite was reporter who never let us down

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama praised broadcasting icon Walter Cronkite as a newsman who “never let us down.”

The 92-year-old retired CBS News anchorman died Friday night at his Manhattan home after a long illness. In a statement, Obama described Cronkite as a trusted voice who calmly guided America through wars and riots, marches and milestones.

“His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged,” Obama said. “But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down.”

“Through it all, he never lost the integrity he gained growing up in the heartland,” Obama said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a diplomatic mission in India, said she and former President Bill Clinton became friends with Cronkite in the early 1990s and found him to be a man filled with “energy and life.”

“It’s a great time to look back and think about someone who played such a major role in explaining what was going on and did it in a calm, fact-based way without embellishments that too often get in the way of really understanding what’s going on,” she said.

Cronkite’s death also brought praise from Washington lawmakers.

“I’m saddened to learn of the passing of Walter Cronkite, one of the most influential newsmen of our time,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “I will never forget our memorable visit together to Hanoi on the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.”

A CBS crew including Cronkite prepared a special telecast for that anniversary.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Cronkite “was the face and voice of American journalism for generations.” The California Democrat said “he set the standard for news even today: fair and thorough.”

“From the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to the war in Vietnam, to the landing on the moon 40 years ago next week, Walter Cronkite delivered the news and provided trusted commentary on the events that shaped our history,” she said.

Pelosi said Cronkite should be honored “by remembering the essential role that a free press plays in our democracy, and by protecting the right of journalists to report the news.”

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said Cronkite “was a giant in his field and a welcome guest in American families’ homes for decades.”

“From the Kennedy assassination to the moon landing and beyond, he was always there to inform and educate us, with the high standards and rigorous commitment to the truth that Edward R. Murrow set at CBS News.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Cronkite “One of the most iconic news reporters of the 20th century.”

“He will be forever memorialized as a pioneer in broadcast news, and remembered fondly by legions of Americans as one of the most trusted men in America,” he said.

Colleagues, friends react to Cronkite’s death

“His passing is, of course, a major loss for journalism. He was a great broadcaster and a gentleman whose experience, honesty, professionalism and style defined the role of anchor and commentator. For almost two exciting and turbulent decades during the 1960s and 1970s he helped inform our nation, and bring us together.” — CBS Corp. chief executive Leslie Moonves.

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“How many news organizations get the chance to bask in the sunshine of a half-century of Edward R. Murrow followed by a half-century of Walter Cronkite?” — CBS News executive producer Don Hewitt, who created “60 Minutes” and was Cronkite’s first executive producer on the CBS Evening News.

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“I’ve been proud over the years to see Walter become not just one of the best-known people on television but one of the best-known people in the whole world of people. He was proud of me, too and there’s no better feeling in life than that. I wouldn’t trade Walter Cronkite liking me for just about anything I’ve ever had.” — “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney.

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“He was there through wars and riots, marches and milestones, calmly telling us what we needed to know. And through it all, he never lost the integrity he gained growing up in the heartland. But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day.” — President Barack Obama.

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“Walter Cronkite was an icon of American journalism who shaped his profession in countless ways during his decades on the air. Tonight, his family is in our thoughts and prayers.” — Former President George W. Bush.

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“I’m saddened to learn of the passing of Walter Cronkite, one of the most influential newsmen of our time. I will never forget our memorable visit together to Hanoi on the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.” — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

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“You will never meet anyone who is as warm and as much of a gentleman as Walter Cronkite. He loved music, he loved the Grateful Dead. He collected drums, including one from the drummer of the Grateful Dead. He adopted them and they adopted him; he was totally a fan. There were many sides to Walter.” — CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus.

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“It’s hard to imagine a man for whom I had more admiration than Cronkite. ... He was a superb reporter and honorable man, a fine friend and I have nothing but admiration for Cronkite.” — CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent emeritus Mike Wallace.

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“He was so revered and beloved here. ... He was a personification of integrity and decency and humanity.” — CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.

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“He was wise and good and fun. He was America at its best. We loved him dearly and shall miss him deeply.” — Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson.

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“He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed.” — Astronaut Neil Armstrong.

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“From the earliest days of the space program, Walter brought the excitement, the drama and the achievements of space flight directly into our homes. But it was the conquest of the moon in the late 1960s that energized Walter most about exploration. He called it the most important feat of all time and said that the success of Apollo 11 would be remembered 500 years from now as humanity’s greatest achievement.” — NASA director Charles Bolden.

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“A call, a note, a compliment from Walter was pretty much the Nobel Prize for a young reporter.” — ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, who worked at “60 Minutes.”

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He was “a jolly and supportive friend. He will be missed by each of us individually who knew him and by the whole country who loved him.” — ABC’s Barbara Walters.

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“What was so remarkable about it was that he was not only in the midst of so many great stories, he was also the managing editor of CBS News and the managing editor for America. Walter always made us better. He set the bar so high.” — Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw.

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“Walter Cronkite was and always will be the gold standard. His objectivity, his evenhandedness, his news judgment are all great examples. He, as much as anyone, is responsible for developing network television news.” — ABC News anchor Charles Gibson.

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“One of the things we tell students is if you can meet the values of Walter Cronkite-style journalism — accuracy, objectivity, fairness and thoroughness in your reporting — you’re going to be pretty great.” — Christopher Callahan, dean of The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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“Walter was who I wanted to be when I grew up. After I got there, I discovered he was exactly the same off the air as he was on the air. He was a great mentor of mine and he always encouraged me.” — CBS “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer, who started work at CBS News in 1969.

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“America has lost an icon, our industry has lost its living giant, and all those who learned about the world from Walter Cronkite have lost an exceptional teacher.” — NBC News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams.

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“As president, I knew I would be treated fairly by Walter. Although his questions might be tough, I always enjoyed the challenge.” — Former President Jimmy Carter.

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He was “the father of television news. ... The trust that viewers placed in him was based on the recognition of his fairness, honesty and strict objectivity ... and of course his long experience as a shoe-leather reporter covering everything from local politics to World War II and its aftermath in the Soviet Union. He was a giant of journalism and privately one of the funniest, happiest men I’ve ever known.” — “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer.

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“It’s a great time to look back and think about someone who played such a major role in explaining what was going on and did it in a calm, fact-based way without embellishments that too often get in the way of really understanding what’s going on.” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.