John North, reporter who spent 34 years with Eyewitness News, dies at 78

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- John North, a beloved broadcast journalist who spent 34 years with Eyewitness News, died Sunday, according to his family. He was 78.

North first came to Los Angeles in 1979 to work as a correspondent for ABC7's Inland Empire bureau.

He left in 1980 to report for ABC News and returned to KABC-TV in 1982 where he worked as a reporter until he retired in 2013. He had been ill for some time and died while in hospice care in Southern California.

North, described as a true go-getter, was a quintessential journalist. He was a witness to history and a friend to many in the ABC7 newsroom.

Though politics was his bread and butter, North reported on every major story in Southern California for decades.

He toured Scientology's secret base in the '80s and covered the trial of the Los Angeles police officers who beat Rodney King. North was there for the verdict in April 1992.

Most notably, North covered the OJ Simpson trial nearly every day for more than two and a half years.

Prior to his work in L.A., North worked as a reporter and co-anchor for KGW-TV in Portland. He also worked for various television stations in Washington, D.C., Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

His son, Tod North, described his father as strong, hard-working, loving, caring and giving man.

North spent the last decade doing what he loved most: riding his Harleys and spending time with his family, including his three granddaughters, Elizabeth, 22, and 20-year-old twins Brittany and Haley.