Donald Cockburn (13 March 1930 – 4 September 2017) was an Irish journalist, presenter and newsreader. He is best known as a long-serving newsreader for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), who anchored the broadcaster's main evening television news programmes during over thirty years of service.
Cockburn was educated at Synge Street CBS,[2] later studying Russian and Spanish at Trinity College Dublin at night after receiving a dispensation from Archbishop John Charles McQuaid to do so.[2]
He originally joined RTÉ as a part-time announcer in 1958, and was made a full-time employee in 1972.[3] He was formerly employed in Dublin Corporation as head of wages in the engineering department.[4]
He retired twenty years later on 15 December 1992,[5] having served as a newsreader for many years.[6] His was known for cycling to RTÉ's Montrose Studios every day.[5]
He died on 4 September 2017.[7][8]