Photo By Maria Piñero
For the first time in decades, Kerry Sanders no longer has phone calls to field, meetings to make or deadlines to conquer.
The former NBC News correspondent is now like thousands of others living in South Florida — a retiree, enjoying the sunshine alongside his wife, Deborah Sharp, a former USA Today reporter and murder mystery author. Sanders announced his retirement in January and has since been revered by colleagues as one of the best in the business. He’s known as the nice, reliable guy next door with a knack to make people feel comfortable and heard.
For the past 23 years, Sanders was away from his Fort Lauderdale home more often than not, averaging about 200 days a year chasing stories on the road.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, he remained grounded in South Florida and realized he wanted to retire sooner rather than later.
“Some people would say I retired too early because I’m 62, but physically, we want to be able to do things,” says Sanders, who’s lived in South Florida since 1991. “I want to climb a mountain.”
The funny thing is, Sanders has probably already climbed a mountain.
He’s an adrenaline junkie and has taken viewers with him on many adventures over the years — jumping from airplanes, scaling cliffs and swimming with sharks. He’s braved Florida hurricanes and the front lines of the Iraq war and has traveled to 65 countries and all seven continents. He really has done it all.
And while he’s now basking in his well-deserved break, he intends to jump back into journalism one day. He’s already been approached by Florida colleges including his alma mater, the University of South Florida, and he’s flirting with the idea of working on documentaries, including one about Florida’s environment.
But, for now, he’s focusing on a different kind of endeavor — learning how to take it easy and tackling new adventures with his better half.
“I really cherish the idea of doing things with my wife, as opposed to just doing things,” Sanders says. “I can’t get her to bungee jump or sky dive, but we will find a middle ground.”