Vic: Newsreader Brian Naylor and wife die in Kinglake fire
08 Feb 2009 9:56 PM
MELBOURNE, Feb 8 AAP - Former Nine Network newsreader Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree have been killed after Victoria's single deadliest bushfire, the Kinglake Complex, razed their property on Saturday.
In a statement, Naylor's lawyer John Beckwith, of Beckwith Cleverdon Rees, confirmed the tragedy on Sunday evening.
"The family of Brian and Moiree Naylor are mourning the loss of their father, mother and grandparents in the tragic fire at Kinglake West," the statement said.
"They request that their grief and privacy be respected by the media at this time of great family distress."
Naylor, 78, and his wife had lived at the property in Coombs Road, Kinglake West, on the western edge of the Kinglake National Park, for many years.
Their son Matthew, 41, was killed in an ultralight plane crash near the farm in May last year.
Following a career as a TV and radio host, most notably as host of Young Talent Time forerunner Brian and the Juniors, Naylor in 1970 became the chief newsreader at HSV 7 in Melbourne.
He left that position to host the Nine Network's top-rating Melbourne news service at GTV 9, retiring to his property in November 1998.
Naylor finished each news broadcast with the catchphrase: "May your news be good news, and goodnight".
Sky News journalist and former colleague at GTV 9, John Gatfield, said the news would devastate many Victorians.
"He's somebody that everybody in Victoria will relate to," Gatfield said.
"They understand, even though they don't know anybody else and they have no other relatives affected, they understand the devastation of this fire in just that one family, that one person they used to watch every night, and that really does hit home, doesn't it?"
