Former KODE Sports Anchor: Rich White commanded respect as newsroom leader

Former KODE sports anchor Russ Riesinger was kind enough to share some memories of his friend and former colleague Rich White, the long-time KODE news anchor who died Saturday.

I think of Rich White as the quintessential news anchor—a handsome guy with a great voice, but he also commanded respect as a newsroom leader. 

 Rich and Tony Debo had come to KODE a few months before I arrived in late summer of 1983 and the three of us became fast friends. 

 “Whitey” as we called him was the guy who we looked up to as a kind of big brother in the newsroom. I remember him being very serious about his job and his responsibilities as a journalist, but he also had a mischievous side that made him a lot of fun to be around. We were all young, broke, and far from home—so we all ended up hanging out together even when we weren’t at work.

 Rich, Tony, Evan Rosen, Marny Stanier, and I have remained good friends over the years getting together for several reunions. The last time I saw Rich was in September of 2013. MS is a terrible disease and he could barely speak and needed help getting around, but we still had a wonderful time together. His health took an even worse turn soon after that. I’m so sorry to see him go, but relieved that he no longer suffers.

 He was a great guy and a great friend. I will miss him.

(Photo- Front row- Russ Riesinger, Rich White, back row- Marny Stanier, Evan Rosen)