Weather channel meteorologist dies7/1/2023 "He was doing his own weather forecasts as a kid," Arlene Goldstein said.Īnd he kept forecasting until the very end of his life. His early memories included Worcester, Mass., after a tornado hit that city in 1953, and watching Hurricane Carol blow the shingles off the roof of his house in 1954. Goldstein was a born meteorologist who grew up a block away from the Atlantic Ocean in Swampscott, Mass. "By now, all the storms I've worked on run together in my mid," Lessor said. You could walk along the beach with him and talk about the sky, the clouds."Īnd, Lessor said, Goldstein had an encyclopedic memory for weather. "With Mel, you learned to appreciate every minute of the day. "So many people have jobs they don't like," Lessor said. "He taught me that weather is a passion that can be consuming," Lessor said. What came through all his work was how much he loved weather and communicating that love to other people. "He faced both life and death with profound and powerful grace, caring and courage," Blumenthal said. Mel's Connecticut Climate Book." And he talked openly - on air and off - about the disease. He started a multiple myeloma research foundation at Yale University, funding it, in part, from proceeds of the two books he wrote on weather - "The Idiot's Guide to Weather" and "Dr. Thanks to the advances made in treatment - and perhaps his own perseverance and optimistic personality - Goldstein lived with multiple myeloma for five times longer than that prediction. When Goldstein was diagnosed, he was told that he might have three years to live. He left WestConn to take a full-time job as chief meteorologist at WTNH-TV in New Haven after he found the debilitating back pain caused by the disease no longer let him stand in a classroom, lecturing for a hour. The second chapter in Goldstein's life began in 1996, when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a cancer of the bone marrow. "He has a marvelous, marvelous legacy," Schmotter said. Not everyone can do that."Īnd, Schmotter said, Goldstein's students are now carrying on his work across the country. But he was a serious scientist who could speak to a general audience. "He was a serious, grounded scientist - maybe world-class. "He was a remarkable guy," said WestConn President James W. "I learned more from him than from anyone else." "I consider him a second father," said Gary Lessor, the director of the WestConn Weather Center, who began working with Goldstein as an intern at WestConn in 1989. He used the money he earned from his radio and television work in the 1970s and 1980s to pay for the equipment needed to create WestConn's Weather Center. Goldstein began broadcasting weather reports on Danbury radio station WLAD in the mid-1970s. He loved the weather - he loved bad weather - but as equally he wanted to warn people about it." "His love for the weather actually weaved into that. Goldstein had "an incredible caring for students and for people in general," Jacquemin said. In 2011, given a lifetime achievement award by the Connecticut Broadcasters Association See More Collapse In 2007, had a scholarship in WestConn's meteorology department named after him Left WestConn in 1996 to become chief meteorologist at WTNH Channel 8 in New Haven Moved to Danbury in 1970 to teach meteorology at what is now Western Connecticut State University Roker tweeted about Wiltgen's "smile, expertise and camaraderie." Seidel said Wiltgen was passionate and "king of wx stats.Graduated from Penn State University in 1967 with a degree in meteorology News of his death brought condolences from Al Roker and Mike Seidel, a Weather Channel meteorologist. The medical examiner's office said Tuesday that the cause of death was blunt force head trauma and the manner of death was suicide.Īccording to the Weather Channel, Wiltgen was a senior digital meteorologist who had worked at the station for 15 years. Police classified it as an accident.Īccording to police, the car hit the wall with enough force that it broke through the wall and ended up in a storage area for the adjacent W Hotel. Initial reports from police said he crashed into the wall at a high rate of speed. Wiltgen, 39, died at the scene at the Colony Square parking garage. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said Nick Wiltgen smashed into the wall on purpose. Watch Video: Weather Channel meteorologist's death ruled as suicideĪTLANTA - The death of a Weather Channel meteorologist, who died Sunday when his car smashed into a wall in the parking garage of a building he once lived in, was a suicide, the medical examiner's office said Tuesday.
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