Information Anchor Jon Burnett, 71, Dies of CTE Problems, Physician Says

TV journalist Jon Burnett, a CBS Pittsburgh climate forecaster, died of issues of CTE (persistent traumatic encephalopathy) on the age of 71, Dr. Joseph Malone, a College of Pittsburgh Medical Middle Cognitive Neurologist, mentioned, CBS Information experiences.

Burnett labored for the Pittsburgh station KDKA-TV, which confirmed his dying on Thursday, Feb. 20.

“Beloved former KDKA-TV persona Jon Burnett has died. Remembered as genuine, unique, gifted and compassionate, he leaves behind an unbelievable legacy,” the station wrote on Instagram.

The late journalist retired in 2019 and later suffered from neurological issues, together with reminiscence loss and a prognosis of suspected CTE.

CTE is a uncommon and progressive degenerative mind situation probably brought on by repeated head traumas, in accordance with the Mayo Clinic.

The situation is brought on by repeated concussions and traumatic mind accidents. The illness has been discovered largely in athletes who play contact sports activities, members of the navy and victims of bodily abuse, although not everybody who experiences repeated concussions goes on to develop CTE.

Earlier than his broadcasting profession, Burnett performed defensive finish on the College of Tennessee soccer crew, from which he graduated in 1976.

All through his athletic profession, he suffered two main concussions, he advised KDKA-TV in Feburary 2024. On the time of his interview, he additionally revealed that he joined an ongoing examine by the Nationwide Sports activities Mind Financial institution on the College of Pittsburgh. Via the examine, he agreed to posthumously donate his mind to assist this system’s analysis and remedy of mind issues and CTE.

“If I will help anyone on this highway, who’s on this highway or shall be on this highway within the years forward, I really feel higher about with the ability to do this,” Burnett mentioned throughout his interview. He additionally recalled he had a whole lot of collisions through the years, and he sometimes hit different gamers round 30-40 instances every sport. 

After his soccer profession, he moved to Pittsburgh in 1982 and hosted KDKA’s Night Journal with Liz Miles and later with Mary Robb Jackson. The latter advised KDKA, “There’s one thing that comes by means of that display screen and you actually cannot idiot it, and I feel Jon was only a pure.”

“He was my companion, some of the important individuals in my life,” Miller mentioned, per KDKA.

Three years later, he then hosted Pittsburgh 2Day. By the Nineteen Nineties, he then served as a meteorologist for the station and stored the job for almost three many years. His Pittsburgh 2Day co-anchor, Patrice King Brown, mentioned to KDKA, “My TV brother. I’ll love him without end.”

“Once you noticed Jon on TV, you’d instantly say, ‘That is a man I would not thoughts having in my lounge reside and in particular person,'” former KDKA meteorologist Dennis Bowman added.

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He’s survived by his spouse, Debbie, and grownup kids, Samantha and Eric.