New Martinsville native and honored journalist John Callaway died June 23 in Racine, Wisc., at the age of 72. He reportedly suffered a heart attack. He has lived in the Chicago area since 1956.

Callaway’s broadcast journalism work was honored with more than 100 awards, including the coveted Peabody Award and 17 Emmys. A drop-out from Ohio Wesleyan University who hitchhiked to Chicago with 71 cents in his pocket in l956, he was the recipient of 10 honorary doctorate degrees, including those from Northwestern University, Loyola University, and the John Marshall College of Law. He was also the recipient of the Benton Medal from the University of Chicago, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Chicago Silver Circle award, and elected into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame.

Callaway was born in Spencer, W.Va., but his parents moved to New Martinsville where his father, Charles E. “Cab” Callaway, was the editor of the Wetzel Republican beginning in the late-1930’s.

He was the father of two of New York’s outstanding Broadway musical stars, cabaret performers and recording artists, Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway.