TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD/Gray News) – A news anchor in Arizona has died at the age of 28.
According to 13 News, Ana Orsini died last week of a brain aneurysm.
“The 13 News Family is saddened to report the passing of our beloved friend and co-anchor Ana Orsini,” the team shared on Tuesday.
She was with the station since June 2023. Her news team added that they were “devastated by her unexpected passing.”
Orsini’s friends and coworkers remember her as someone with bottomless empathy who always stood up for the little guy.
They said she was a smiling face, especially for all her newest and youngest coworkers, and she was known in all the newsrooms where she worked for taking them under her wing and being a strong mentor for both work and life.
Her team said rescue animals were her passion. She also enjoyed true crime stories. She would share the calendar she kept to track the releases of all the new episodes of the best podcasts. Her favorite was “True Crime Obsessed.”
As a journalist, Orsini was a writer, and she wrote the following about herself in her station biography:
“There are many places Ana once called “home,” but she always knew Arizona was where she wanted to end up. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, she started her college career at the University of Arizona. After a semester, she traded in the mountains for the plains, graduating from Texas A&M in 2018. With a degree in journalism and a double minor in communication and sports management, Ana was always passionate about making sure the viewers had all the information they needed to keep themselves and their families safe.
Before coming back to Southern Arizona, Ana was in Medford, Oregon, where she spent three years as a morning and midday anchor. She did everything from covering major wildfires to helping shelter pets find their forever homes. Her career began in 2018 in Lubbock, Texas, where she worked as an anchor/reporter – covering everything from Texas Tech basketball to a months-long investigative series on a bridal shop scam. The highlight of her time in Texas was launching a “Pet of the Day” segment, where she also helped local shelter animals.
When she wasn’t at work, you could always find Ana playing fetch with her own rescue dog, Harley, catching up on all things true crime, or reading a good book by the pool. In the fall, she would always spend her Saturdays watching college football and cheering on the Aggies or her sisters’ alma mater UCLA.”
The Orsini family said they want her to be remembered for the bright, sunny person she was. If anyone would like to do something in Orsini’s memory, the team said to donate to your local animal shelter as “Ana never met a dog she didn’t love!”
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