Channel Seven News Presenter Frank Warrick Has Died After Suffering From Dementia For Five Years

Veteran Channel Seven journalist and presenter Frank Warrick has passed away at the age of 76.

Warrick died peacefully at 4.50am surrounded by his family.

He had been suffering from dementia for about five years now.

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Warrick had long been regarded as a Queensland television icon for 40 years.

Warrick started with Seven News in June 1976 as a weekend journalist.

In February 1977, he was promoted to full-time weekend broadcaster.

A move to the next few days would follow, and he was a journalist with Kay McGrath for 13 years, until 2001.

Tributes

Queensland Premiere Annastacia Palaszczuk paid tribute to Warrick in Parliament this morning.

“Frank was a welcome guest in thousands of Queensland homes for many decades as a newsreader and as a journalist,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

McGrath issued a statement in response to news of Warrick’s death.

“I extend my condolences to Frank’s wife Lyn and his family,” McGrath said.

“We had a very successful 13-year relationship, on air during the 80s and 90s when 6:00 pm news was a habit for viewers.

“Live TV can be a sensational journey at times but Frank never became frustrated or lost in words, he was a master of adhoc performances and delivered timely reports.

“I learned from the master.”

“Frank was a perfect master – I never saw him fazed or flustered on air.

“He taught me a lot and it really hurt me to hear that he has left ‘this world around us’.”

Sensational Journalism Career Moment

Warrick and McGrath were also presenters for Seven’s long-running show, The World Around Us.

People all over the Australian television industry share their memories of their time with Warrick.

In 1991, convicted armed robber Harold McSweeney was one of four prisoners who broke out of Brisbane’s Boggo Road Gaol in a stolen garbage truck.

Months later, cornered in bushland, McSweeney surrendered to Warrick and the Seven News helicopter pilot after they landed nearby.

McGrath still remembers that day.

“It was a great surprise that Frank found himself in that moment when the most wanted man in Queensland surrendered to him,” he said.

“Frank was similarly shocked and surprised by the incident. He stretched out his arms and collected the criminal and handed him over to the law.”

McGrath described the war against him with dementia as a “brutal decline” and said he had been in contact with his family and friends.