Colleen Marshall is the longtime NBC4 (WCMH-TV) evening news anchor in Columbus, Ohio, and a practicing attorney. She’s been on-air in Central Ohio since 1984, making her one of the longest-serving local news anchors in the country. This article covers what’s verifiably known about her age, career, 2019 health scare, and retirement plans — and is honest about what isn’t.
Interest in Marshall spikes around a few recurring questions: her age and birthday, whether she’s retiring, her health, and her marital status. Some of these have clear, sourced answers. Others — like her husband’s identity or her net worth — are repeated across low-quality biography sites with numbers that don’t even agree with each other.
Below you’ll find a Quick Facts table, her career timeline, what’s confirmed about her 2019 kidney surgery, and a clear breakdown of what remains unconfirmed, so you’re not left with recycled guesses dressed up as facts.
See More: Kiran Bhatt
Colleen Marshall Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Full Name | Colleen Marshall |
| Profession | TV news anchor, attorney |
| Employer | NBC4 / WCMH-TV, Columbus, Ohio |
| Joined NBC4 | October 6, 1984 |
| Current Role | Anchor, NBC4 at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m.; host of “Sunday Briefing” |
| Birthplace | Southwestern Pennsylvania (exact town disputed across sources) |
| Date of Birth / Age | Reported as July 6, 1956; would make her 70 as of September 2026 — treat as reported, not fully verified |
| Education | B.A., Point Park University; J.D., Capital University School of Law (2004) |
| Notable Health Event | 2019 kidney surgery (see Health section) |
| Marital Status / Husband | Widely reported as married; a specific husband’s name circulates online but is not independently confirmed |
| Net Worth / Salary | Estimates circulate online but are not sourced to any confirmed figure |
| Wikipedia | No dedicated, verifiable Wikipedia page found for the NBC4 anchor |
Who Is Colleen Marshall?
Marshall is an Emmy-nominated journalist who has anchored NBC4’s evening newscasts for over four decades. She joined NBC4 as a general assignment reporter in 1984, was promoted to anchor of NBC4’s weekend news in 1987, and became a weekday co-anchor in 1992.
She’s also a licensed attorney. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, then graduated from Capital University School of Law in Columbus in 2004, where she received a Trustee’s Scholarship, made the dean’s list, and served on Law Review and the National Moot Court Team. She passed the Ohio bar the same year.
Before Columbus, she worked at WTRF-TV in Wheeling, West Virginia, and as an anchor/reporter at radio stations in Wheeling and Weirton, West Virginia, plus a stint at an all-news Pittsburgh radio station.
Colleen Marshall Age and Birthday
Multiple secondary biography sites list Marshall’s date of birth as July 6, 1956, which would make her 70 as of this year. A 2023 Columbus Monthly profile lends indirect support to this window: Marshall said, “I think I’m the oldest woman on the air in Ohio,” and the piece noted she’d been eligible for Social Security for more than four years at that point.
That said, no NBC4 press material or on-record interview independently confirms the exact birth date. Treat July 6, 1956 as a widely reported figure rather than a station-confirmed fact.
Colleen Marshall Career Timeline
| Year | Milestone |
| 1984 | Joined NBC4 as a general assignment reporter |
| 1987 | Promoted to anchor of NBC4’s weekend news |
| 1992 | Became weekday co-anchor of NBC4’s news programs |
| 1999 | Won the Stonewall Media Award for a series on transgender people and AIDS-related coverage |
| 2001 | Honored by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, with colleague Mike Jackson, for “The State of Race” |
| 2004 | Graduated Capital University School of Law and passed the Ohio bar |
| 2007 | Won a Media General reporting award for “Dead Man Waiting,” a report on Ohio’s death row, and received an Emmy nomination for it |
| 2009 | Won another Media General award for a story on Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton |
| 2019 | Underwent kidney surgery after a failed attempt to donate a kidney to her cousin (see below) |
| 2024 | Marked 40 years at NBC4, anchoring alongside co-anchor Kerry Charles, her fourth permanent on-air partner |
| 2025 | Her political program “The Spectrum” was rebranded “Sunday Briefing” |
Career Highlights
- Conducted two one-on-one interviews with President Barack Obama
- Reported from Ground Zero in New York City in the days after the September 11 attacks
- Longtime host of NBC4’s weekly political affairs program
- Multiple regional journalism honors across a 40-plus-year career
Health: The 2019 Kidney Surgery
This is one of the few personal details about Marshall that is independently and reliably documented, thanks to a hospital press release and her own on-air reporting.
In late 2019, Marshall was tested as a potential living kidney donor for her cousin, who was on dialysis; the tests instead revealed a blockage that had already cost her own left kidney close to 40% of its function, a condition described as stage-four kidney nephrosis. She underwent robotic surgery at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, performed by urologic surgeon Dr. Ronney Abaza using a single-port robotic system, one of the first of its kind in the state.
Evidence Check
- Confirmed: Marshall had a blockage discovered during kidney-donor screening and underwent robotic kidney surgery in December 2019.
- Source: OhioHealth press release; NBC4/WCMH’s own reporting on the surgery.
- What it shows: The surgery was successful; an NBC4 update noted her recovery was going well and that she was home resting comfortably.
- What remains unclear: Any ongoing health status beyond her 2019–2020 recovery period has not been publicly updated by Marshall or NBC4.
There is no credible reporting linking Marshall to any other publicized illness. Claims beyond the 2019 kidney matter should be treated skeptically unless a primary source surfaces.
Is Colleen Marshall Retiring?
No — not based on the most recent on-record statement available. In an April 2023 Columbus Monthly profile, Marshall said she had more than three years left on her contract and no retirement plans, adding, “I don’t think I will ever fully retire; I’d go insane.”
She has floated ideas for eventual semi-retirement work rather than a full stop. She mentioned possibly teaching, offering media training for executives, or doing pro bono legal work for battered women going through divorces or landlord-tenant disputes. As of her 40th-anniversary coverage in October 2024, she was still anchoring three nightly newscasts.
Colleen Marshall Family
Marshall has spoken publicly about losing both parents. Her father, Jack, was diagnosed with colon cancer in September 2003 and died that April, just before she completed her law degree. Her mother died from Alzheimer’s disease, a cause Marshall has since reported on personally.
Beyond her parents, Marshall has described a cousin named Karen, who was on dialysis and the intended recipient of the kidney donation that led to Marshall’s own 2019 diagnosis. Details about a spouse or children are not confirmed by any primary source (see below).
See More: Chris Paul Height
Husband, Marital Status, and Net Worth: What’s Actually Confirmed
This is the section where readers should be most cautious. Search results for “Colleen Marshall husband” and “Colleen Marshall net worth” surface a cluster of biography-farm websites that repeat a husband named “Gary Marshall,” children named “Garrett” and “Shannon,” a birthplace that shifts between Dunbar, Pennsylvania; Dunbar, West Virginia; Columbus, Ohio; and Gaithersburg, Maryland depending on the site, and net worth figures ranging from “$2 million” to “not known” — often on the same domain, contradicting other pages on the very same topic.
None of these claims appear in NBC4’s official bio, Columbus Monthly’s reporting, or any court, government, or primary-source material found during research. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re false — Marshall’s personal life is largely private, and it’s plausible she is married — but it does mean they haven’t been independently verified.
| Claim | Status |
| Married | Reported, not confirmed |
| Husband named “Gary Marshall” | Unconfirmed — appears only on unsourced content sites |
| Children | Unconfirmed |
| Net worth (~$2 million estimate) | Unconfirmed — no sourced basis found |
| Salary figures ($120K–$146.5K variously reported) | Unconfirmed — no sourced basis found |
| Political party | Not publicly disclosed |
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Colleen Marshall?
She’s widely reported to have been born July 6, 1956, which would make her 70 as of 2026, but NBC4 hasn’t independently confirmed this exact date.
Is Colleen Marshall retiring from NBC4?
Not based on her most recent public comments. As of 2023 she said she had no retirement plans and years left on her contract.
What happened with Colleen Marshall’s kidney surgery?
Testing to become a kidney donor for her cousin revealed a blockage in her own kidney; she had successful robotic surgery in December 2019 at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital.
Who is Colleen Marshall’s husband?
This isn’t independently confirmed. A name circulates on unsourced biography sites, but no primary source verifies it.
What is Colleen Marshall’s net worth?
No reliable, sourced figure exists publicly. Online estimates are not attributed to any verifiable source.
Does Colleen Marshall have a Wikipedia page?
No dedicated, verifiable Wikipedia article for the NBC4 anchor was found during this research.
What is Colleen Marshall’s political party?
Not publicly disclosed. As a working journalist who hosts a political affairs program, she has not stated a party affiliation in available reporting.
Where is Colleen Marshall from?
She’s described as a native of southwestern Pennsylvania; the exact town is inconsistently reported and unconfirmed.
Conclusion
Colleen Marshall’s public record is clear on the things that matter most for a working journalist: more than 40 years at NBC4, a law degree earned mid-career, a well-documented 2019 kidney surgery, and repeated on-record statements that she has no plans to retire. Those facts come from NBC4’s own reporting, Columbus Monthly, and a hospital press release — not guesswork.
Where the record is thin — her husband’s identity, her net worth, her exact birthplace — it’s thin because no reliable source has confirmed it, not because this article is holding anything back. If verified information on those points becomes available, it can be added; until then, treating repeated-but-unsourced claims as fact would do readers a disservice.
