John M. Couric, former journalist, P.R. executive, father of broadcaster Katie Couric

By Adam Bernstein Email the author

June 22, 2011

John M. Couric, a wire service editor who said he gave up the “high priesthood of journalism” for a public relations career, in part to support a growing family that included the future television journalist Katie Couric, died June 22 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He was 90.

His death, of complications from Parkinson’s disease, was confirmed by his daughter Katie, the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and co-host of NBC’s “Today Show” who is scheduled to start a daytime talk show for the ABC network.

“I encouraged her to go into broadcasting because I thought it was more promising than print, having been in print myself,” John Couric, an Arlington resident, told The Washington Post in 1991.