AT THE end of the 6 p.m. news hour that he reigned over for 45 years, Jim Vance told his devoted viewership on May 4 that he needed to take time away from work to deal with cancer. Earlier, he had delivered a far more wrenching statement to co-workers gathered in the WRC-TV (Channel 4) newsroom that suggested the finality of his diagnosis. “I have lived a good life,” he said, noting it was full of blessings that not many people have had. He voiced similar comments when his face was made part of the new Ben’s Chili Bowl mural. Mr. Vance did indeed live a life many would envy, but it is the Washington community that should feel gratitude for this singular personality and his extraordinary career.

Mr. Vance died Saturday at the age of 75. One of local television’s first African American journalists to establish a strong presence, he became the region’s longest-serving television news anchor and, along with co-anchor Doreen Gentzler, its most popular. He was, of course, quite good- looking and had an easy charm about him. But his success was rooted in the assured way he delivered the news — with empathy but no sentimentality or ideology. Even when the news was most jarring — as the day in 1982 of the Air Florida plane crash and Metro derailment (for which he earned one of his 19 local Emmy Awards) — viewers could find comfort in Mr. Vance’s calm professionalism.

His reputation as a straight shooter extended to his own problems. His candor about his addiction and his depression helped to make him a celebrity, but his interest was never to exploit those demons but rather to help others by acknowledging and confronting illness. He gave back to the community in other ways — freely giving his time to speak at high school graduations, church groups and community events — and he helped raise money for causes dear to him, such as the Theatre Lab, which works with youth, the aged and incarcerated, and Concerned Black Men.

“He was a ‘part’ of local Washington in a way that people who just report ‘on’ the city are not,” former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder told Mr. Vance’s NBC4 colleague Tom Sherwood. “Jim always understood that people looked up to him, respected him and he gave that respect back. And I think that came through in real life and on the screen as well.”

He will be missed — both on camera and off.