Remembering Lisa
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FTVLive told you the sad on Saturday that WABC Reporter Lisa Colagrossi had died suddenly.
Colagrossi was returning from covering a story on Thursday, when she suffered a brain hemorrhage.
She was rushed to the hospital, but after a brief stay she passed away. She was only 49 years old.
Her co-workers and those that used to work with her were shocked that she died so young and so suddenly.
Colagrossi started at WABC the day after 9/11/2001. One of her Producers back then was Dave Bloch, who now works for ABC News.
Bloch posted this tribute about Colagrossi on Facebook:
I’m going to ask for about 300+ words of your time.
Lisa Colagrossi showed up at Eyewitness News at the worst time anyone could imagine. Right after 9/11. Honestly, I don’t even remember her being hired. She just... appeared on my show one day.
We sent her down to Ground Zero, still that fiery hell pit that burned for 100-days.
On November 12th, 2001, Lisa had just finished her last live shot for the morning show when American Airlines Flight 587 went down in Belle Harbor, Queens. Two months and a day later. She and her crew had just packed up when all hell broke loose -- again. Somehow they tailgated their way to the scene... attached to the bumper of whatever FDNY truck was in front of them...blowing through the toll gate. Two seconds later everything was on lockdown. Nobody on or off Manhattan. Lisa and her crew, the only ones on the scene. Eight million raw nerves wondering what in God’s name just happened. After all this time, I’m pretty sure I have those details right.
So there was Lisa, the Florida transplant, a reporter none of us really knew. Jesus, we were still trying to figure out how to spell her last name. Standing on top of the live truck like she had been working for us forever. We were in the control room and realized, okay, she’s got this. And she did it over and over again.
A damn good reporter, a fine anchor, and if we ever butted heads (and that only happened a couple times in a dozen years) I hope there were never hard feelings. She came in to work at the worst hours of the day, and on many occasions was still turning stories 14-hours later.
She loved her kids, she loved the Rangers.
Someone said it before me: her March Madness brackets were a thing of beauty, picks based on her own...”unique” system.
The last Tweet that Colagrossi sent was a reply to a viewer:
The viewer was still feeling the emotions later when he tweeted:
