Veteran journalist Walter Cronkite, is shown on June 16, 2003, in New York. (Tina Fineberg/Associated Press)Tributes are flowing for Walter Cronkite, the former CBS anchor once called the Most Trusted Man in America, ahead of his funeral Thursday afternoon.

Cronkite died last week at the age of 92.

A private funeral service is planned for St. Bartholomew's Church in midtown Manhattan, but hundreds of public figures are expected to attend.

The service will be a traditional funeral from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, with a jazz band scheduled to play When the Saints Go Marching In.

Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes, longtime Cronkite producer Sanford Socolow and son Chip Cronkite are scheduled to speak.

A news anchor when CBS News was in its heyday, Cronkite conveyed to Americans historic events including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the landing of the first man on the moon.

"He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day," President Barack Obama said in tribute to Cronkite.

In an interview with CBC News, Dan Rather, who replaced Cronkite as anchor of CBS News, said Cronkite's dedication to quality news and journalistic integrity set him apart.

"He was an early pioneer, unquestionably. a giant of the craft and he set the standard for solo anchoring," Rather said.

"He was a person who believed in the best tradition of journalism, to be an honest broker of information."

Rather recalled Cronkite's roots as a print reporter, especially his time as a Second World War correspondent.

"He was moulded as a reporter in WWII," Rather said. "Walter was never a cynic, but was dedicated to be a skeptic, in this sense — he looked at things and said, 'OK, that's what appears to be going on, now what's really going on in there?' And he brought those skills to television at a time when they were rare."

Rather said Cronkite's display of emotion when announcing the death of Kennedy was a rarity for a man who held himself to high standards.

"Walter didn't like to show his emotion on camera, he didn't like to give his opinions on camera. Obviously, the assassination of young president John F. Kennedy was a hammer to the heart for the whole country and for Walter and he did show some emotion then," he said.

Walter Cronkite is shown in Hanoi for CBS Reports: Honors, Duty and A War Called Vietnam, a 1973 special for the CBS television network. (CBS/Associated Press)

Cronkite also was famous for his 1968 on-camera editorial in which he denounced the Vietnam War as unwinnable. He had travelled to Vietnam and witnessed the fighting for himself and was convinced the war was damaging America's future.

"He did give his opinion once in a memorable broadcast about the Vietnam War which he later called the finest moment of his time in television, but basically Walter was a straight reporter," Rather said.

Christopher Callahan, head of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, said Cronkite continued to have a passion for journalism after his retirement.

He often met with students at the school, encouraging them to stick to the principles of accuracy, objectivity, fairness and integrity he respected in his own career.

"My belief is that Cronkite had a higher levels of those skills than anyone else I know," Callahan said in an interview Thursday.

He loved technology and embraced the development of new ways of delivering news, Callahan added.

"What didn't excite him was the direction of some news organizations with their talking heads on cable and the celebrity entertainment style of journalism he was opposed to," Callahan said.