The longtime, award-winning news anchor in New Orleans died along with a veteran stunt pilot.
Community mourns New Orleans anchor killed in plane crash
An award-winning local TV news anchor in New Orleans died in a plane crash while working on a story about a stunt pilot.
Nancy Parker, 53, was killed along with the pilot, Franklin J.P. Augustus, on Friday when the plane crashed into a field near the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. The cause of the crash in under investigation, local officials said.
Parker, who earned five Emmy Awards for her work as a journalist, was a fixture in New Orleans and at the station she worked at for 23 years, her station said. Her colleagues choked back tears as they shared news of the fatal accident during their newscast.
“Nancy was absolutely a joy to work with each and every day,” said the station’s vice president and general manager, Tim Ingram. “Today we lost a wonderful journalist and remarkable friend, the New Orleans television community lost a true treasure, but beyond that, her family lost a wife, a mother and daughter. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Nancy Parker spent almost twenty five years covering news in South Louisiana WVUE. Parker is survived by her husband and three children.
Celebrities and local officials, including the New Orleans mayor, expressed grief over the deaths.
“New Orleans did not just lose a five-time Emmy-winning journalist, or a familiar, comforting face on our TV screens,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said. “We lost a mother of three, a beautiful human being, and an invaluable member of our community.”
Augustus was a New Orleans native known for introducing young black people to flying and working as an anti-drug advocate. He described himself as the “world’s only black civilian air-show acrobatic pilot,” the Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.
“Both victims lost in this tragic incident were beloved, one-of-a-kind individuals,” Cantrell said. “Our hearts and our love go out to their families and all who knew them. May Nancy and Franklin both rest in God’s perfect peace.”
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