Updated May 7 Bob Abernethy, 93, NBC journalist and longtime host of PBS’ ‘Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly’ Abernethy had become a fixture at The Gathering Place in Brunswick, where he was drawn to the stories of people experiencing homelessness. Share Bob Abernethy, veteran broadcast journalist and longtime host of the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” died in Brunswick on Sunday. He was 93. He died of natural causes, according to an obituary that his daughter, Jane Montgomery Abernethy, posted on Facebook. A screen shot of Bob Abernethy hosting the PBS show “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” which aired from 1997-2017. Abernethy, who spent 40 years as a correspondent for NBC News in Washington, D.C., London, Los Angeles and Moscow, had been a fixture at The Gathering Place day shelter in Brunswick, where he was drawn to the stories of people experiencing homelessness.