From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Samuel Andrew "Sam" Donaldson, Jr. (born March 11, 1934) is a reporter and news anchor for ABC News, who from dates in 1979 through the 1990s substitute anchored the Sunday edition of World News Tonight for regular host Barry Serafin and later Carole Simpson Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Donaldson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​