Kaity Tong: Age, Husband, Health, Net Worth And Her 2026 Retirement From PIX11
Kaity Tong is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist who has anchored the news in New York City since 1981, and in August 2026, she announced that she is stepping away from television after more than three decades at WPIX.
This article answers every major question people search for about her, from her real age and family life to her recent lung cancer diagnosis and her retirement announcement. You will find verified biographical details, a full career timeline, and honest context on her finances, drawn only from confirmed public reporting.
Kaity Tong built her reputation over nearly five decades in local news, and few New York anchors are as instantly recognizable to viewers across generations. Her story includes an immigrant childhood, an Ivy League education, a public firing that sparked an age discrimination debate, and a health journey she chose to share openly with the public. Understanding her full career helps explain why her retirement announcement this week is being treated as the end of an era in New York broadcasting.
Quick Facts About Kaity Tong
| Detail | Information |
| Full name | Kaity Tong (Chinese: 董恺悌; pinyin: Dǒng Kǎitì) |
| Date of birth | July 23, 1947 |
| Age in 2026 | 79 years old |
| Birthplace | Qingdao, China |
| Nationality | Chinese American, naturalized U.S. citizen since 1985 |
| Raised in | Washington, D.C. |
| Education | Bryn Mawr College (B.A., English literature); Stanford University (M.A., Chinese and Japanese studies) |
| Occupation | Television news anchor and broadcast journalist |
| Current station | WPIX (PIX11 News), New York |
| Years at WPIX | 1992 to 2026 |
| Retirement date | Last newscast on August 30, 2026 |
| First husband | Robert “Bob” Long, television news director |
| Second husband | Patrick Callahan, photographer |
| Son | Philip Long |
| Known for | PIX11 News at 5 and 10 on weekends |
Who Is Kaity Tong?
Kaity Tong is one of the most familiar faces in New York local news, known for anchoring PIX11 broadcasts for well over three decades. She was born in Qingdao, China, and immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of four. Her parents, who anglicized their names to George and Anita Tong, settled the family in Washington, D.C., where Kaity grew up.
Her path into journalism was shaped early by family influence rather than a childhood dream of television work. Her great uncle, Hollington Tong, served as a Chinese ambassador to the United States and was also an accomplished writer, and he inspired her interest in storytelling. Her mother worked as a broadcaster and editor for the Voice of America in Washington. Those two influences, combined, quietly set the stage for the career she eventually built.
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How Old Is Kaity Tong? Her Real Age Explained
Kaity Tong was born on July 23, 1947, which makes her 79 years old as of 2026. Her birth date is confirmed across her Wikipedia entry, PIX11’s own staff biography, and independent reporting going back decades, so there is no real ambiguity around it despite occasional confusion online. She was born under the zodiac sign Leo and belongs to what is commonly called the Baby Boomer generation.
A lot of people search “how does Kaity Tong look so young” because her on air appearance has consistently defied typical assumptions about her age. There is no verified, publicly confirmed information tying her appearance to cosmetic surgery, and no credible source has published evidence of any procedures. What is well documented is that she has worked with professional television makeup and lighting for decades, which naturally affects on-screen appearance far more than most viewers realize.
Note: Be cautious of celebrity gossip sites that list wildly different birth years, heights, or hometowns for Kaity Tong. Several low-quality profile pages online contain factual errors, including at least one that confuses her biography with an entirely different journalist. Always check her age and background against primary sources like PIX11’s staff page or established reference sites.
Education: How Kaity Tong Got Into Journalism
Kaity Tong attended Bryn Mawr College on an academic scholarship and graduated with honors, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature. She then continued her studies at Stanford University, where she pursued a doctoral program in Chinese and Japanese studies and eventually earned a Master’s degree in that field. Broadcasting was never part of her original plan; it found her almost by accident.
While at Stanford, Tong took what she believed would be a temporary summer job as a morning editor and producer for KCBS All News Radio in San Francisco. That short term position stretched into a full year, and it pulled her away from finishing her doctoral thesis entirely. She has said she never intended to make journalism a career, but the newsroom experience changed the direction of her life permanently.
Career Timeline: From San Francisco Radio to New York Television
Kaity Tong’s career spans nearly fifty years across radio and television markets in California and New York. The table below lays out the major stops in her professional journey in chronological order, so readers can see exactly how her path unfolded over time.
| Years | Role | Station or Employer |
| Late 1970s | Morning editor and producer | KCBS All News Radio, San Francisco |
| 1976 to 1979 | Television reporter | KPIX TV, San Francisco |
| 1979 to 1981 | Co-anchor, 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. news | KCRA TV, Sacramento |
| 1981 to 1991 | Co-anchor, Eyewitness News | WABC TV, New York |
| 1992 | Co-anchor, 10 p.m. news, with Marvin Scott | WPIX, New York |
| 1992 to 1998 | Co-anchor, 10 p.m. news, with Jack Cafferty | WPIX, New York |
| 1998 to 2010 | Co-anchor, 10 p.m. news, with Jim Watkins | WPIX, New York |
| 2010 to 2016 | Weekend anchor | WPIX, New York |
| 2016 | Co-anchor, new 6:30 p.m. newscast, with Brenda Blackmon | WPIX, New York |
| 2016 to 2026 | Weekend anchor, 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. | WPIX, New York |
At KPIX in San Francisco, Tong was originally hired as a writer, not an on air talent. She was asked to take an on air test almost on a whim and was promoted to street reporter immediately afterward, with her very first assigned story covering new luggage carts at the airport. That small assignment ended up launching one of the longest running careers in New York television news.
Her move to WABC TV in 1981 established her as a fixture of New York news for the first time, where she spent a decade co-anchoring the station’s Eyewitness News broadcasts.
In 1991, station management released her from her contract, citing her salary of $750,000 per year as the reason, though many observers and colleagues at the time connected the decision to her age, since she was over 40. Capital Cities and ABC’s chairman described it publicly as strictly a business decision, while Tong herself said only that she was trying to take the high road.
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Joining WPIX And Becoming A New York Institution
Kaity Tong joined WPIX in early 1992 as the station’s top female anchor, and she remained there continuously until her 2026 retirement announcement. Over that time she co-anchored the 10 p.m. newscast with three different partners across nearly two decades: Marvin Scott, then Jack Cafferty, then Jim Watkins. When Watkins departed the station in 2010, Tong transitioned into the weekend anchor role she is best known for today.
In January 2016, WPIX briefly moved her back into a weekday role, pairing her with longtime WWOR anchor Brenda Blackmon on a new 6:30 p.m. newscast. That experiment was short lived, and the newscast was cancelled by September of the same year, after which Tong returned to anchoring PIX11 News on weekends. She has held that weekend anchor position at the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. slots ever since, making her one of the most consistent and recognizable presences in the station’s history.
- Co-anchored New York’s top rated 10 p.m. newscast at WPIX for nearly 20 years across three different partnerships
- Testified during a 2010 age discrimination lawsuit filed by former WPIX news director Karen Scott
- Became the station’s longtime weekend anchor after 2010, a role she held for the rest of her career
- Spent more than 34 years total at WPIX, making her one of the longest serving anchors in New York television
- Announced her retirement in August 2026, with her final broadcast scheduled for August 30
Is Kaity Tong Still Working? Her 2026 Retirement Announcement
As of this week, Kaity Tong is still on the air, but that is about to change. On the evening of August 4, 2026, PIX11 announced that Tong is retiring from the news industry after a broadcasting career spanning more than 60 years overall and more than 34 years specifically at WPIX. Her final newscast is scheduled to air on August 30, 2026.
PIX11’s managing editor, Patrick Mason, described her in a note to the station’s staff as “journalist, anchor, icon, legend, friend, mentor,” adding that it would be hard to find anyone in the New York City area who does not immediately associate the station with Kaity Tong. Longtime colleague Marvin Scott, who anchored alongside her for years, called their time together on the anchor desk some of the best of his own career. The announcement marks the end of one of the longest tenures of any local news anchor currently working in the New York market.
Quick Tip: If you are searching “Kaity Tong now” or “Kaity Tong 2026” because you want to catch her final broadcasts, her scheduled last day on air is August 30, 2026, on PIX11’s weekend evening newscasts.
Kaity Tong Health: Lung Cancer, Surgeries And Recovery
Kaity Tong has been notably open with viewers about several health challenges throughout her later career, which is part of why searches like “Kaity Tong illness” and “Kaity Tong heart attack” are so common. It is worth clarifying directly that there is no verified public record of her having had a heart attack; the confirmed health events involve abdominal surgery, hernia repair, and a lung cancer diagnosis.
In 2018, Tong underwent emergency surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital after suffering a ruptured colon, a serious abdominal complication that required immediate medical intervention. In 2022, she had hernia repair surgery and was off the air for several weeks starting around late June, later posting on social media that her recovery was rougher than she had expected but that she was improving daily. She specifically thanked colleagues Shirley Chan and Arianee LeBeau for covering her weekend anchor duties while she recovered.
The most significant health disclosure came in December 2023, when Tong announced on Instagram that she had been diagnosed with Stage 1 lung cancer. She emphasized that she had never smoked in her life, and she shared that message specifically to raise awareness that lung cancer is increasingly diagnosed among Asian women who have never smoked. The cancer was caught through a routine chest X ray taken after what she assumed was just a bad cold, and she underwent robotic surgery to remove the tumor.
- December 2023: publicly disclosed a Stage 1 lung cancer diagnosis, found via a routine chest X-ray
- Underwent robotic surgery to remove the tumor shortly after diagnosis
- Used her diagnosis to encourage screening among nonsmoking Asian women, a group with rising lung cancer rates
- 2022: underwent hernia repair surgery, with a longer than expected on air recovery
- 2018: had emergency abdominal surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital following a ruptured colon
Warning: None of Tong’s public statements have referenced a heart attack. If you have seen headlines using that phrase, they are likely referring inaccurately to one of her other documented surgeries, so it is worth checking the original source before repeating that claim.
Kaity Tong Husband And Family Life
Kaity Tong has been married twice, and her family life has occasionally intersected with her career in New York broadcasting. Her first husband was Robert “Bob” Long, a television news director and vice president at KNBC TV in Los Angeles, whom she met through the industry. The couple had one son together, Philip Long, before divorcing in September 2009 after many years of marriage.
Following her divorce from Long, Tong later married Patrick Callahan, a photographer. Public details about the timeline and current status of that marriage are limited, and some sources describe the relationship as having also ended, though Tong has generally kept the specifics of her personal life private compared to how openly she has discussed her health.
| Family Member | Relationship | Notes |
| George Tong | Father | Name anglicized after immigrating to the U.S. |
| Anita Tong | Mother | Worked as a broadcaster and editor for Voice of America |
| Hollington Tong | Great uncle | Former Chinese ambassador to the United States; writer |
| Robert “Bob” Long | First husband | News director and VP at KNBC TV; divorced 2009 |
| Philip Long | Son | Child from her first marriage |
| Patrick Callahan | Second husband | Photographer |
Kaity Tong Net Worth And Salary
Public estimates of Kaity Tong’s net worth vary enormously across celebrity finance websites, ranging anywhere from roughly $1 million up to $7 million, and none of these figures come from an official or verified source. Because Tong has never publicly disclosed her exact earnings or assets, any specific dollar figure you see online should be treated as a rough, unverified estimate rather than a confirmed fact. The one salary figure that is well documented from primary reporting is her $750,000 annual salary at WABC TV around 1991, which was cited at the time as the stated reason for her departure from that station.
| Category | Estimated Range (Unverified) |
| Net worth estimates (various sources) | Roughly $1 million to $7 million |
| Documented historical salary (WABC, 1991) | $750,000 per year |
| Current WPIX salary | Not publicly disclosed |
Readers researching “Kaity Tong salary” should understand that local news anchor pay, even for long tenured weekend anchors in a major market like New York, is not typically made public by stations. Treat any specific current salary figure circulating online with skepticism unless it is directly sourced to Tong or to WPIX itself.
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Kaity Tong Awards And Recognition
Kaity Tong’s honors reflect both her journalism career and her standing within New York’s Chinese American community specifically. She has been recognized repeatedly over the decades by organizations focused on women in media as well as Asian American advocacy groups, reflecting the dual significance of her career as both a respected journalist and a visible trailblazer.
- Received the Exceptional Achievement Award from The Women’s Project, alongside honorees Gloria Steinem and Beverly Sills
- First woman honored by Rotary International with its Paul Harris Fellowship
- Received a Star award from the New York Women’s Agenda
- Recognized by the Chinese America Arts Council for excellence in communication
- Received a Distinguished Woman award from the Chinese American Planning Council
- Received a Champion of Excellence Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans
- Received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor as a naturalized U.S. citizen
- Anchored the Emmy Award winning PIX11 News broadcasts
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Kaity Tong?
Kaity Tong was born on July 23, 1947, making her 79 years old as of 2026.
Is Kaity Tong still working at WPIX?
Yes, but only briefly. She announced her retirement in August 2026, with her final broadcast set for August 30, 2026.
Who is Kaity Tong’s husband?
Her first husband was Robert Long, with whom she had son Philip Long. She later married photographer Patrick Callahan.
Does Kaity Tong have children?
Yes, she has one son, Philip Long, from her first marriage to Robert Long.
What illness has Kaity Tong had?
She was diagnosed with Stage 1 lung cancer in December 2023 and has also had hernia repair and colon surgery in past years.
Has Kaity Tong had a heart attack?
There is no verified public record of Tong having had a heart attack; her documented health issues are surgical and cancer related.
What is Kaity Tong’s net worth?
Estimates vary widely from roughly $1 million to $7 million, but no exact figure has been officially confirmed.
Where was Kaity Tong born?
She was born in Qingdao, China, and moved to the United States with her family at age four.
How long has Kaity Tong worked at WPIX?
She joined WPIX in early 1992 and remained there for more than 34 years until her 2026 retirement.
What college did Kaity Tong attend?
She attended Bryn Mawr College for her undergraduate degree and later studied at Stanford University.
Final Thoughts
Kaity Tong’s career traces an unusually long and steady arc, from an accidental summer radio job in San Francisco to becoming one of the most recognizable weekend anchors in New York television history.
Her willingness to speak openly about aging in a visually driven industry, and later about her own cancer diagnosis, added a layer of public trust that outlasted any single newsroom she worked in. As her final broadcast approaches on August 30, 2026, her retirement closes out a run at WPIX that shaped how generations of New Yorkers got their weekend news.
