Arizona local news anchor Ana Orsini died last week of a brain aneurysm, her KOLD News 13 coworkers reported in an article on the station’s website Tuesday. She was 28.
“We now know that Ana Orsini TV died of a brain aneurysm,” her co-anchor, Tyler Butler, posted on Facebook.
“It’s so horrible, so sudden, but this web article has been updated with some things that made me smile,” he added, linking to the station’s story about her life and death.
“Ana was a force of nature. I keep thinking about how at times, I’d make a self deprecating joke and she’d snap ‘Hey! Don’t talk about my friend like that!’ Her genuine care for everyone around her will be missed.”
On Monday, Butler and co-anchor Carsyn Currier, who described Orsini as her best friend, announced the news in a broadcasted tribute sharing some of Orsini’s most memorable on-air moments.
“Our beloved friend and co-anchor Ana Orsini passed away unexpectedly last week,” Butler said in the announcement.
Currier posted on Facebook Tuesday, “We recently learned Ana died of a brain aneurysm. It still doesn’t feel real.”
Another colleague, meteorologist Cory Kowitz, on Tuesday shared two of his “favorite moments working with Ana” on social media.
“As you can see, Ana brought fun, funny, and playful energy to the broadcasts that made her so enjoyable to work with,” he wrote. “Rest in peace Ana. We all miss you.”
Orsini, a Denver, Colorado, native, had worked at KOLD News 13 in Tucson since June 2023. Previously, she worked at KDRV NewsWatch 12 in Medford, Oregon. She got her career started in Lubbock, Texas, in 2018, after graduating from Texas A&M University.
According to KOLD News 13′s article, Orsini’s friends and coworkers “remember her as someone with bottomless empathy who always stood up for ‘the little guy.’”
She was passionate about rescue animals, fascinated by true crime podcasts, and “a peanut-butter-M&M-loving, platform-Ugg-wearing, pink-or-purple-Stanley-toting ray of sunshine, even at 4:00 in the morning,” her coworkers wrote.
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The Orsini family has requested privacy, and told KOLD News 13 they want Ana Orsini to be remembered “for the bright, sunny person she was.”
“If you would like to do something in Ana’s memory, please donate to your local animal shelter – Ana never met a dog she didn’t love!” the station ended its report.