Longtime WJXT Executive Producer Sharon Siegel-Cohen passed away yesterday.

Siegel-Cohen was diagnosed in 2018 with Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS.

She was notorious for her birthday songs and farewell serenades when a member of WJXT left the station. She roasted colleagues in her own quirky way, often through parodies of popular songs.

Despite her humor, telling important stories in our community was no laughing matter for the lifelong journalist, who started at WJXT in 1979 after graduating from Wolfson High School and the University of Florida.

When she found out she had ALS, she decided to be public about it. “Originally I didn’t want to talk about this, I was in denial, but as a TV person, I felt that I was in a position, let’s get the awareness out,” Sharon said.

The people in the WJXT newsroom knew that this day was coming, but it doesn’t make it any less painful.

Sharon Siegel-Cohen was 62 years old.

H/T WJXT