Seventy-seven years old Ted Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist who is best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's telecast in 1980 all the way till 2005. He was born on February 8, 1940, in Nelson, England from German Jewish parents. He is the only child of his parents.
Koppel's father was from Germany, and he had a tire manufacturing company. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, he was falsely declared an enemy by England and imprisoned for a year and a half on the Isle of Man.
Koppel was born shortly after his father was taken away and imprisoned. After the war had ended, his family gained some money from their confiscated assets and decided to leave for the U.S. When Koppel was 13, the family immigrated to the United States, where his father, Edwin, opened a tire factory and his mother, Alice, became a singer and pianist.
Koppel graduated from Syracuse University at the age of 20 with a Bachelor of Science degree. According to his roommate Koppel "was incredibly focused and had a photographic memory. He remembers almost every conversation he ever had with anybody. And the man never needs sleep."
After that Koppel went to Stanford University where he earned a Masters of Arts degree in political science and mass communications research. While he was at Stanford, he met his wife-to-be, Grace Anne Dorney.
Koppel spent twenty years working as a broadcast journalist and news anchor for ABC before Nightline. After he had started hosting Nightline, he was regarded as one of the most "outstanding" serious-minded interviewers on American television. In just five years after its debut in 1980, the show had a nightly audience of seven and a half million viewers.
After leaving Nightline, Koppel started working for Discovery Channel as a managing editor, a contributor to Rock Center with Brian Williams and a news analyst for NPR and BBC World News America.
Currently, Koppel is a special contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning. Koppel has earned numerous awards from his work as a correspondent, including nine Overseas Press Club Awards and twenty-five Emmy Awards.
Koppel became a U.S. citizen in 1963. He got married to Grace Anne Dorney who is a Roman Catholic woman. Ted and his wife are together for more than 54 years now. The couple has four children: Deirdre, Andrew, Tara, and Andrea. His son Andrew Koppel was found dead in a New York City apartment on May 31 of 2010. Koppel is a multilingual person and speaks French and German in addition to his native English.
Ted Koppel has a net worth of $30 million and also earned a huge salary till he retired. His bio and works can be read on wiki sites like Wikipedia.
