TV news legend Fred Van Amburg, once widely considered to be the Bay Area’s Walter Cronkite, has died.

Van Amburg, a KGO anchor who dominated the market in the 1970s and early ’80s, passed away on June 22 in his El Cerrito home with his family at his side. He was 86.

Long before streaming video, 24/7 cable news stations and fragmented television audiences, viewers turned to just a handful of evening newscasts. Van Amburg, who spent much of his 17-year tenure alongside co-anchor Jerry Jensen, ruled the roost. Their “News Scene” program regularly pulled in 70 percent of the regional audience, and he became the highest-paid local newsman of his day, reportedly earning close to $1 million annually.

On a nightly basis, the man known simply as Van Amburg to his audience, led KGO’s newscast with his trademark opening: “Good evening, and here’s what’s happening.”

Along the way, he covered a number of major news stories, including the Patty Hearst kidnapping, the rise of the Black Panthers, the Jonestown massacre and the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Van Amburg left KGO in 1986, following a disagreement with station management. His final newscast came on Aug. 29, 1986, after which he never took another broadcasting job. In the ensuing years, he was known to be extremely reclusive, regularly turning down interview requests.

In a statement released by the station, KGO remembered Van Amburg’s lasting legacy.

“KGO-TV is saddened to learn that a legendary member of the ABC7 News team passed away last week,” the statement read. “Van Amburg was a local television icon and a respected journalist who Bay Area viewers trusted for decades. We extend our sympathy to his family during this difficult time.”

Dan Ashley, who became KGO’s lead anchor in 1995, said Van Amburg “put Channel 7 on the map” and “set the standard” for the journalists who followed.

“What I loved about his style was the serious manner in which the news was handled,” Ashley said. “He had a straightforward approach. He didn’t waste the viewers’ time. He got to the point and his passion was very much evident.”

Born on Oct. 20, 1930, in Fresno, Van Amburg attended Berkeley High School after his family moved to the Bay Area during World War II. He was a standout athlete, going on to play baseball and football at Santa Rosa Junior College before joining the Air Force. He was stationed in Minneapolis during the Korean War.

After Van Amburg married Minnesota native Lois Jurgens in 1954, the couple returned to the Bay Area, where he worked nights at Judson Steel in Emeryville while studying broadcasting at San Francisco State University. It was during college that he got the chance to cover the 1956 Republican Convention in San Francisco and journalism officially became his way of life.

Van Amburg honed his skills through radio jobs in Merced and Salinas before becoming sports director for KPIX-TV in 1960, during the age of Bay Area legends such as Willie Mays and Willie McCovey.

He really started to make a name for himself as a talk-radio host at KNEW in Oakland, where he was known as the “Militant Moderate” for opposing the Vietnam war but also violent protests. KNEW also gave him the chance to broadcast the early days of Oakland Raiders football in the mid-1960s, providing the color commentary to Bill King’s play-by-play.

Van Amburg’s television career was one marked by numerous honors, including induction into the Bay Area Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/chuckbarney and Facebook.com/bayareanewsgroup.chuckbarney.