Jim Boyd

James Lloyd Boyd was born in New York City on March 26, 1942, and grew up in Harlem. His mother, Edmonia Coleman Boyd, worked as a secretary and receptionist, and his father, Leroy Homer Boyd, was a mail carrier. His paternal grandfather, Arthur Boyd, had performed as a violinist with the Negro String Quartet, which appeared with the singer Roland Hayes at Carnegie Hall in 1925. Boyd later said he liked sports and "pretty much do anything other than go to school and sit in class and come home and do homework."

Boyd attended New York City public schools and George Washington High School, finishing in 1958. He enrolled at Long Island University in Brooklyn at 16 and was asked to leave three years later because of poor grades. While working at National Educational Television he took classes at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, but overseas assignments repeatedly won out over his studies. After retiring from WCVB in 2008 he took courses at the University of Massachusetts Boston, then transferred to Tufts University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology through the Resumed Education for Adult Learning program in 2013, at the age of 71.

Boyd began in 1961 in the mailroom of National Educational Television (WNET) in New York and moved into public affairs and production roles. A Ford Foundation grant took him to Boston for a year on the production staff of WGBH-TV's "Say Brother" (later "Basic Black"). Back at WNET he became associate producer and then producer of "News in Perspective," the Emmy Award-winning news analysis programme produced with The New York Times, a job that took him to places including Paris and Cairo.

In 1972, with the launch of WCVB-TV, he joined Channel 5 in Boston as a general assignment reporter. He co-anchored weekend newscasts, then anchored the early morning EyeOpener newscast and co-anchored the midday news with Susan Wornick for many years. In his final years at the station he worked as a special correspondent and field reporter for both its broadcasts and its website. He retired at the end of 2008 after 36 years with WCVB. After earning his degree he worked as a background performer in productions including "American Hustle," "The Equalizer," "The Judge," "Olive Kitteridge," "Black Mass," "Ted 2" and "Spotlight."

Boyd's first marriage ended in divorce. In 1984 he married Linda Polach, then a Channel 5 executive producer, and they lived for many years in Needham, Massachusetts. He had three daughters, Erica Jacob, Alyssa Pannozzi and Olivia, and two grandchildren. To be home for his daughters after school, he began his days at 2:30 a.m. to prepare the morning newscast and drove back to Needham as soon as the midday news ended. He coached youth softball, track, basketball and soccer in the town. In a home of two news professionals, he once said, "there's a lot of channel flicking."

Boyd spoke often about second chances. Telling audiences how he had been asked to leave college and started again in a mailroom, he said: "I realized good things happen to good people even if they had made a mistake or two." He put family first, saying: "You do the things that are important, the things that have meaning to me and the kids." Those who worked with him said he treated everyone, from presidents to garbage collectors, as an equal.

Boyd is remembered as one of the defining faces of WCVB's NewsCenter 5 and, with Susan Wornick, half of a long-running and beloved morning and midday anchor team. Former news director Emily Rooney called him the kind of employee "every manager would like to clone," and former WBZ-TV anchor Liz Walker remembered him as "a real gentleman on and off camera." His return to university after retirement and graduation at 71 made him an example for adult learners, and his decades of school visits and youth coaching touched many young people in Greater Boston.

Boyd received the Golden Circle award from the New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2011 and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2012. Earlier, he had produced "News in Perspective," an Emmy Award-winning programme.

WCVB profiled Boyd's journey back to the classroom in its "Chronicle" feature "Jim Boyd's Personal Best," and the Boston Globe covered his 2013 Tufts graduation. In 2022 he and Wornick made a surprise appearance on WCVB's 50 Years Fund telethon. He also appeared as a background performer in several films and television series shot in Massachusetts.

No significant controversies involving Jim Boyd have been documented in published sources.

Jim Boyd died on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at the age of 84. The Boston Globe reported that his health had been failing; a specific cause of death was not made public. WCVB announced his death the same day, and former colleagues including Susan Wornick and Anthony Everett shared their memories on air. He was survived by his wife, Linda Polach, three daughters and two grandchildren. His family said a celebration of life would be announced.