NBC Washington anchor Jim Vance died Saturday morning, NBC Washington reports.

WASHINGTON — Local news anchorman Jim Vance, who anchored for NBC Washington for more than four decades, has died, NBC Washington announced on its website Saturday. He was 75.

“We are heartbroken to announce that Jim Vance died this morning,” NBC Washington’s President and General Manager Jackie Bradford wrote on NBC Washington’s website.

“For more than 45 years, Jim Vance was not only the soul of NBC4 but of the entire Washington area. His smooth voice, brilliant mind and unforgettable laugh leaves each of us with a tremendous void,” she wrote.

Vance had recently announced that he was battling cancer. He had manned the anchor desk this summer in between treatments, telling concerned viewers, “I have been coming into work with my partners here whenever I can, and I shall continue to do that. In fact, I will insist on doing that.”

As the region’s longest-serving television news anchor, according to The Washington Post, Vance spent three years as a reporter before taking the helm as weekend anchor in 1970 and becoming co-anchor of NBC Washington’s daily newscasts in 1972.

He was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame in 2007, and won a total of 17 Emmy awards, according to NBC Washington . Vance was also awarded the Ted Yates Award for outstanding community service and honored as “Washingtonian of the Year” by the Washingtonian magazine in 1976.

“Jim loved his job, his family and Washington with all his heart, and we will all cherish the legacy he has left us forever,” Bradford wrote.

“To everyone in the Washington area who is heartbroken today, please know we grieve right along with you.”

Watch Vance’s message to viewers on WTOP’s TV news partner NBC Washington below.