ABC News Colleagues Celebrate Gibson’s Career

Last night in New York, hundreds of Charlie Gibson‘s friends and colleagues turned out to celebrate his work at ABC News over the past nearly 35 years.

In a toast, ABC News president David Westin said, “The first rough draft of history over this generation has been seen by an entire nation through the eyes of Charlie Gibson,” adding that Gibson’s leadership has been “an essential glue that has held us all together.”

Tweeting that night, WH correspondent Jake Tapper described him as “a man beloved and respected” and “GMA Weekend” co-anchor Bill Weir wrote, “Years from now I’ll brag that ‘I worked with Charlie Gibson.’”

Here are some of Gibson’s remarks from the speech he delivered:

“You can’t forget how important it is what we do,” he said. “You get caught up in the competitive aspects, you get caught up on so many ephemeral things and you get worried about this and that, but in the bottom line, the most important thing, overall, is that what we do is important.”

“It has been an honor to work with all of you, truly an honor,” he added. “I have loved every damn day of it. Thank you.”

Below is a video tribute the network put together about the event and his career:

Related: Charlie Gibson leaves ABC News today as the last old school network TV anchorman (St. Petersburg Times)

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