Tom Brokaw Fast Facts - CNN.com (CNN) -- Here's a look at the life of Emmy award-winning news anchor Tom Brokaw. Personal: Birth date: February 6, 1940 Birth place: Webster, South Dakota Birth name: Thomas John Brokaw Father: Anthony Orville "Red" Brokaw, construction foreman Mother: Eugenia "Jean" (Conley) Brokaw, post office clerk Marriage: Meredith (Auld) Brokaw (August 17, 1962-present) Children: Sarah, 1970; Andrea, 1968; Jennifer, 1966 Education: Attended University of Iowa in the late 1950s; University of South Dakota, B.A. in political science, 1962 Other Facts: Nominated for 39 Emmy awards and won eleven: ten competitive and one honorary. Won two Peabody awards. Timeline: 1962-1965 - Morning news editor for a television station in Omaha, Nebraska. 1966 - Joins NBC as an anchor and correspondent at an affiliate station in Los Angeles. 1973 - Becomes NBC's White House correspondent and weekend news anchor. 1976-1982 - Hosts "Today," taking over for Jim Hartz. April 1982-December 1, 2004 - Anchors "NBC Nightly News." November 30, 1987 - Brokaw's interview with Mikhail Gorbachev airs. It is the first interview of a Soviet leader by an American journalist. 1988 - Wins an Emmy award as a writer for "Summer Olympics." 1989 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Interview/Interviewer (Programs) for "Ronald Reagan...An American Success Story." 1989 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a Single News Story (Programs) for "NBC News Special: Crisis in China." 1989 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding General Coverage of a Single Breaking News Story (Segments) for "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Romanian Revolution Coverage." 1989 - Wins a Peabody award for "To Be an American." 1993 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a Single News Story (Programs) for "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Flood of '93." 1997 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding General Coverage of a Single Breaking News Story for "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw: Grand Forks Floods." 1998 - Best-selling first book "The Greatest Generation" is released. 1999 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Instant Coverage of a News Story - Programs for "Dateline NBC: Killing at Columbine." October 12, 2001 - Brokaw's assistant tests positive for a mild form of cutaneous anthrax, after opening a letter containing a suspicious white powder. 2002 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Interview for "Dateline NBC: America Remembers - 9/11 Controllers." 2003 - Wins a Peabody award for "A Question of Fairness." 2004 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story - Long Form for "NBC News Special: The Death and Funeral of Ronald Wilson Reagan." 2004 - Receives the lifetime achievement Emmy award from the National Television Academy (formerly the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences). 2004-present - Serves as a special correspondent for NBC. 2006 - Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. 2008 - Wins an Emmy award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story - Long Form for "NBC News - Decision 2008." June 2008-December 2008 - Following Tim Russert's death, serves as interim moderator of "Meet the Press." September 6, 2012 - Briefly hospitalized in Charlotte, North Carolina. Brokaw later tweets that he "mistakenly took a half dose of Ambien." February 11, 2014 - NBC announces Brokaw is being treated for cancer and he was "diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, in August at the Mayo Clinic." November 10, 2014 - The White House announces that Brokaw will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.