Jane Pauley Parents: Meet Richard Pauley, Mary Pauley

Jane Pauley is an American television host and author who has worked in news since 1972. Jane Pauley was born on October 31, 1950, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

She is the second child of Richard Grandison Pauley and Mary E. Pauley and a fifth-generation Hoosier. Her father worked as a travelling salesman, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom.

In her memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue, Pauley described herself as such a shy little kid that she let her second-grade teacher call her Margaret Pauley all year rather than telling her she preferred her middle name, Jane.

Pauley attended Indiana University after graduating from high school in 1968, majoring in political science.  In 1972, she earned a B.A. in Political Science from Indiana University Bloomington.

Pauley rose to prominence as Barbara Walters’ successor on the NBC morning show Today, where she was a co-anchor from 1976 to 1989, first with Tom Brokaw and later with Bryant Gumbel.

Jane Pauley has received numerous honours throughout her career. Among her awards are the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Paul White Award for Lifetime Contribution to Electronic Journalism from the Radio and Television News Directors Association.