Leroy

Leroy Sievers has died, and if you don’t work in the confines of network news you may not recognize his name.  But — much more important — if you’re a cancer survivor, or if you have a loved one who has fought cancer, I hope you did hear of him and draw strength from him. Leroy was a friend of mine, going way, way back.  He and I started in the same class at college.  We worked together at CBS, and then at ABC, where he eventually became executive producer of Nightline.  We have a biography HERE if you haven’t seen it, where his professional accomplishments are included.  He was remarkably talented, but remained the good-natured, quick-to-laugh regular guy I’d known from the start. In 2001 he was diagnosed with cancer, and somehow beat it back.  In 2005, after he’d left ABC, it returned.  He turned a terrible thing into a wonderful thing.  He kept a blog called "My Cancer" on NPR’s website, and it became a source of strength to thousands of people.  I hope you’ll look at it, and read through past posts, for a new definition of grace against terrible odds. You’re welcome to post comments below, but I really hope, if Leroy’s words have resonance with you, that you’ll post on Leroy’s blog, where his wife Laurie will get to read them.  Ted Koppel, with whom Leroy worked closely, has written a memorial of his own, which you can find HERE.  "Cancer was not in Leroy’s plans. But he turned his battle with cancer into the most dramatic, the most moving and the most important story of his life."
(Photo: Leroy Sievers (left) with Ted Koppel in Iraq.)