Former long-serving CBS anchor, and longtime seasonal Martha’s Vineyard resident Walter Cronkite has died, aged 92.

The New York Times reported Mr, Cronkite’s son’s announcement of his death, shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. The network for which he anchored the evening news from 1962 to 1981, immediately interrupted its prime time programming to show an obituary.

During his tenure as CBS news anchor, Mr. Cronkite became known as the most trusted man in America.

Among the big issues of his time in the chair were the civil rights movement, the Kennedy assassination, the race to the moon, the impeachment of Richard Nixon and the Viet Nam War.

Such was the weight of his editorial viewpoint with the public, that after he delivered judgment that Viet Nam was a lost cause and that America should negotiate a withdrawal, President Johnson was quoted as saying: "If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America."

Five weeks later, the President announced he would not run for reelection.

Mr. Cronkite, a keen sailor, had a seasonal relationship with Martha’s Vineyard that endured far longer even than his tenure in the most influential media job in the country – some 40 years. "I don’t know of any place quite like it, and I’ve traveled a great deal around the world and this nation of ours. This is unique," he said.

In one of his final interviews, with the Gazette at his Edgartown harborfront home in June 2007, he affected complaint that his enduring celebrity status interfered with his sailing.

But in truth he maintained a close and opinionated view of public events. In that last Gazette interview he pronounced identical judgement on the Iraq war as he had on Viet Nam.

He wished his opinions were still widely broadcast.

"I would like to be doing more of what I did before," he said. "I've retired from . . . the best job that a man could have. But if somebody said, ‘We know you're getting to be an old man, but we could use you. Would you like to come into the evening news as an editor?' My God, I'd be there before I could get a taxi."

Mr. Cronkite passed away at his New York home after a long illness, surrounded by family.

A full obituary will appear in Tuesday’s Gazette.

Related: 2007 Gazette interview with Mr. Cronkite