Lisa Colagrossi, a highly respected morning anchor and reporter for WABC/Channel 7, died after suffering a brain hemorrhage while returning from an assignment in Queens, the station announced early Saturday.
Colagrossi was “a determined reporter who got the story and presented it to our viewers with a true sincerity,’’ said station manager David Davis.
He added, “as much as she loved her craft, she lived for her family.
She was the ultimate hockey mom, in the best sense, as she shepherded her two boys from rink to rink.
“Her husband Todd told me today, ‘Please let everyone at the station know how much she loved working with them, she loved the people of Eyewitness News.’ ’’
The 49-year-old Cleveland native was stricken Thursday as she was returning to the studio with cameraman Marvin Hoffman, who quickly flagged down a passing ambulance.
It already had a patient inside, but Hoffman insisted, “If you don’t come and help her now, she’s going to die.”
Colagrossi was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
“She never regained consciousness and there was no chance for survival,’’ Davis said.
Colagrossi, whose two sons are 11 and 15, had been with the station since 2001, when she was hired as a freelancer to help cover the 9/11 attacks.
“We respect her immensely,” said one colleague.
“I always felt fortunate when I was picking up a story from her — she would always go out of her way to get details that nobody else had.”
“I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is.”