- Her estate was awarded over $8 million for wrongful death - the largest settlement ever for a woman's estate. Some of the money was used to set up college scholarships.
- Savitch separated from her first husband, Mel Korn, after only 10 months of marriage in November 1980. Her second husband, Dr. Donald Payne, committed suicide by hanging just over four months after their wedding. The shock of discovering Payne hanging in their basement lead to Savitch miscarrying in the fourth month of her pregnancy.
- Her life formed the original basis of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Up Close & Personal (1996), but Savitch's story was considered too downbeat and was rewritten to be more upbeat.
- Will Ferrell also borrowed from Jessica's struggles in writing Christina Applegate's 70s female anchor role in his film, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
- Dated Warren Beatty.
- The eldest of three sisters raised near Philadelphia, Savitch attended the Park School of Communications (Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY). "Studio A" there was renamed in her honor. The Jessica Savitch Distinguished Journalism Lecture Series is also held at Ithaca College in her honor.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 703-704. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
- The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
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