Ruschell Boone

Ruschell Boone (née West; 1975 – 3 September 2023) was a Jamaican-born American reporter and journalist based in New York City. She worked for NY1 cable television news from 2002 until her death in 2023.

Early life and education Ruschell West was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She immigrated to the Bronx in 1986 when she was 11, She was one of five children in a blended family with her mother Faithlyn (Swaby) and stepfather Duke Scott.

Boone earned a degree in accounting from City University of New York (CUNY) Baruch College. Although she picked accounting to ensure a good living, she discovered her passion for journalism in her senior year when she took over a college radio segment for a missing guest. Boone's academic counselor tried to dissuade her from a career change, saying that it was too late for her to change paths and that she did not "fit the mold".

Career Working in cable television news since 1998, Boone was a business news associate for CNBC and then an associate producer and assignment editor for CNN. In 2019, Boone was nominated for three New York Emmy Awards for news reporting and work on NY1's talk shows, and in 2020 she was nominated again as a live reporter. She won in 2021 for her series New York: Unfiltered. She moved to the anchor desk in 2021, where her work was nominated for another Emmy posthumously in 2024.

Personal life and death On 24 September 2005, Ruschell West married Todd Boone, a production technician at NY1. They went on to have two sons. In 2022, she began a medical leave from NY1 for treatment of pancreatic cancer. She later returned to the NY1 anchor desk, but succumbed to medical complications on 3 September 2023, at the age of 48. 2019, 2020 Queens District Attorney's William Tucker Garvin Public Service Award – 2019 New York Emmy Award for Best Light News Feature Series – 2021