An Arizona news anchorwoman died suddenly last week, leaving her colleagues and audience shocked and saddened.
Ana Orsini of KOLD-TV, a CBS affiliate in Tucson, Arizona, was 28 years old.
She died of a brain aneurysm, morning anchor Tyler Butler said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
“It’s so horrible, so sudden,” Butler wrote.
“Ana was a force of nature,” he said. “I keep thinking about how at times, I’d make a self deprecating joke and she’d snap ‘Hey! Don’t talk about my friend like that!’
“Her genuine care for everyone around her will be missed.”
Orsini’s co-anchor Carsyn Currier could not hold back her tears as she announced the death of her friend during a Monday broadcast.
Last week, we lost a beloved member of our KOLD news team. Ana Orsini was our anchor, a leader of the morning team, and most importantly a great friend to so many at the station. I had the pleasure of working with her during the morning, even though it was for too short of a… pic.twitter.com/oau04UsS9h
— Cory Kowitz (@cory_kowitz) December 16, 2024
In an Instagram post, Currier said Orsini was “one of my best friends.”
“Waking up in the middle of the night to go to work is always challenging, but knowing I was going to work with Ana made it that much easier.
“Whether she was dancing around the set or making us all laugh, everyday with Ana was an adventure.”
The station’s website reported, “Ana had been at 13 News since June 2023, and we are devastated by her unexpected passing. “
She had “bottomless empathy” and was known for standing up for “the little guy,” according to the report.
“She was a smiling face most especially for all her newest and youngest coworkers, and she is known in all the newsrooms where she worked for taking them under her wing and being a strong mentor for both work and life.
“Rescue animals were her passion, and if she wasn’t celebrating Fur Baby Friday, she’d be trying to find a new home for a cutie in need.”
“She was a peanut-butter-M&M-loving, platform-Ugg-wearing, pink-or-purple-Stanley-toting ray of sunshine, even at 4:00 in the morning.”
