Kerry Sanders is an American journalist. He is a correspondent for NBC News. He worked as a general news reporter for a number of Florida television stations including: WTLV in Jacksonville, Fl, WINK in Ft. Myers, WTVT, the CBS and later Fox affiliate in Tampa and WTVJ in Miami. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of South Florida, from which he received his bachelor's degree and later a Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1996, he became a correspondent for NBC News, based in the network's Miami bureau. He was immediately thrust into a major story, when the ValuJet crash occurred in the Everglades just days after he began with NBC. He is a general assignment reporter and may be seen at news events throughout the world. He is regularly seen on NBC Nightly News, the Today show, MSNBC, and Dateline NBC.
Awards
Kerry Sanders is a Peabody Journalism Award winner, Emmy Award winner, Columbia DuPont Award winner and National Headliner award winner.
Notable coverage
He is well known for his Hurricane coverage, including Hurricanes Andrew, Ivan, and Katrina. He has also been on the front lines in both Desert Storm in 1991 and as an embedded reporter with the US Marines during the Iraq War in 2003. He had previously worked with NBC reporter David Bloom at WTVJ in Miami, who died from an embolism caused by DVT while also covering the Iraq war along with Sanders. In 2000, Sanders and an NBC cameraman had exclusive coverage of the Federal raid to free Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old Cuban boy held by his relatives in Miami when the Federal Government ordered he had to be returned to his father in Cuba after his mother died in the waters off the coast of Florida while trying reach the USA. Sanders' coverage as pool reporter on that event was seen on competing networks, such as Univision, Telemundo, and CNN.
Personal life
Sanders is originally from the Boston metro area but while growing up, also lived in England and Peru. He resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his wife, author Deborah Sharp.
