Cronkite to be buried in Mo. after NYC funeral

NEW YORK -- Walter Cronkite's final resting place will be next to his late wife in Missouri, where the two first met, his chief of staff said Saturday.

The 92-year-old former CBS anchorman died Friday at his Manhattan home of disease involving blood vessels in the brain, according to Marlene Adler, his longtime chief of staff.

A private funeral was scheduled for Thursday at St. Bartholomew's Church. Adler said the Rev. William Tully will preside over the Episcopal service at the Park Avenue church, which the Cronkites attended for many years.

A memorial is to be held within the next month in Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Adler said.

"It will be a fitting tribute to Mr. Cronkite and the life he lived, the people he knew, the people who loved him and the people he admired," said Adler, who headed Cronkite's staff for the past 20 years.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that works to safeguard press freedoms worldwide, will post remembrances of Cronkite, an honorary co-chairman, on its blog.

"Whenever press freedom needed a champion, he was there," CPJ board chairman Paul Steiger said. "We will miss him."

Cronkite is to be cremated and his remains buried next to his wife, Betsy Cronkite, in the family plot at a cemetery in Kansas City.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to the Walter and Betsy Cronkite Foundation through the AustinCommunityFoundation.com, which will distribute contributions to various charities the couple supported.