Peter Charles Jennings

Peter Jennings, the suave, Canadian-born broadcaster who delivered the news to Americans each night in five separate decades, died at age 67.

Jennings, who announced in April that he had lung cancer, died Sunday at his New York home, ABC News President David Westin said.

Jennings dominated the ratings from the late personality to the mid-'90s, when Brokaw surpassed him. He remained a Canadian until 2003, when he became a U.S. citizen, saying it had nothing to do with his politics - he did it for his family.

"He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man," said Ted Koppel, a friend and fellow anchor.

Jennings deeply regretted dropping out of high school, and he would have wanted that lesson passed along, Koppel said. He made up for it by becoming a student of the world, studying cultures and their people for the rest of his life.

"No one could ad lib like Peter," said Barbara Walters, also a friend and fellow anchor. "Sometimes he drove me crazy because he knew every detail. .... He just died much too young."

Jennings was wherever the big story was. He logged more than 60 hours on the air during the week of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, offering a soothing sense of continuity during a troubled time.

"There are a lot of people who think our job is to reassure the public every night that their home, their community and their nation is safe," he told author Jeff Alan. "I don't subscribe to that at all. I subscribe to leaving people with essentially - sorry it's a cliche - a rough draft of history. Some days it's reassuring, some days it's absolutely destructive."

Jennings' announcement four months ago that the longtime smoker would begin treatment for lung cancer came as a shock.

Broadcasting was the family business for Jennings. His father, Charles Jennings, was the first person to anchor a nightly national news program in Canada and later became head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s news division. A picture of his father was displayed prominently in Jennings' office off ABC's newsroom.

Charles Jennings' son had a Saturday morning radio show in Ottawa at age 9. Jennings never completed high school or college, and began his career as a news reporter at a radio station in Brockton, Ontario. He quickly earned an anchor job at Canadian Television.

Jennings was proud of his Canadian citizenship, although it was occasionally a sore point with some critics. When Jennings spoke at the dedication of a museum celebrating the Constitution in 2003, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told him, "not bad for a Canadian."

Jennings whispered back his secret: He had just passed a test earning him dual citizenship in the United States.

"My decision to do this has nothing to do with politics," Jennings told The Associated Press at the time. "It has nothing to do with my profession. It has everything to do with my family."

He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, and his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23