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Vernon Odom retiring from 6ABC after 42 years

Odom, whose last day on the air will be Friday, has reported on everything from the Three Mile Island disaster and MOVE to the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African prison.

Vernon Odom is retiring from 6ABC after more than four decades. (6ABC)
Vernon Odom is retiring from 6ABC after more than four decades. (6ABC)Read more6ABC
    by Ellen Gray | Columnist
    Published 

Action News reporter Vernon Odom will retire from 6ABC this week after a distinguished career that’s included reporting on the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, the MOVE bombing, the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African prison, and every presidential campaign since 1976.

In announcing Odom’s retirement to viewers on Wednesday, anchor Jim Gardner called it “the end of an era.” Odom’s final day on the air will be Friday, he said. “His storytelling, his political wisdom, his wit, and his friendship will be missed around here,” Gardner said.

Before coming to Philadelphia in 1976, Odom, a 1970 graduate of Morehouse College who did postgraduate study in broadcast journalism at Columbia University, spent six years at the ABC affiliate in Atlanta. There, according to his 6ABC biography, he worked as a reporter, anchor, and talk show host.

Odom’s sister, Maida, was a longtime reporter for the Inquirer who now teaches at Temple University. He and his wife, former Inquirer reporter Wanda Motley, have two children.