Farewell, Randy...

I'm so sad to tell you of Randy Garsee's untimely death. He passed away in his sleep this weekend at his home near Washington DC. He became one of two evening news anchors at KOLD in 1997; he and Kris Pickel took their nightly newscasts to the top of the ratings. He was popular for his outspoken, honest style as well as his friendliness and humor.

Randy was a visionary who loved Tucson's art and wanted to share it. He founded this blog on July 12, 2006. (Here are the entries he wrote in 2006.) Not long after — at the start of October, 2006 — he left KOLD.

I joined the blog in May, 2007. Actually, he added me as co-author and then wrote to tell me that he had. I'd just sent in my first mural photo. Somehow Randy knew that I'd love doing this. Though he'd hoped to stay in Tucson, he may have known by then that he'd be moving on to another TV job. He next worked at KTEN in North Texas - Southern Oklahoma. Later he worked in Iraq as a journalist (and wrote two posts from there: No Murals in Iraq and While in Baghdad...). At the time of his death, Randy was communications and public affairs adviser for the Center for Naval Analyses and Institute for Public Research.

If you'd like to read more of and about Randy, here are links to some web pages. As Kris Pickel (his long-time co-anchor at KOLD 13) told me today, “I would include links with the caveat that there is more to every story.” Amen.

• The Arizona Daily Star carried an article about him in today's edition: Former KOLD news anchor Randy Garsee, 50, dies.
• KOLD News 13 reported Randy's death yesterday with video clips showing some humorous parts of his newscasts in 'Goodbye' to colleague Randy Garsee.
• Christopher Francis, a colleague of Randy's at KOLD, wrote a long blog post Goodbye, Randy with lots of behind-the-scenes history and fond recollections.
• Randy's Facebook page
• Randy's LinkedIn page
• Randy's Twitter feed
• Randy's YouTube channel
• Randy's Tucson mural tour video (YouTube, August 24, 2008)
• Randy's videos on Vimeo (by the way, the photo of Randy above is from this page)
• The Silsbee Bee, a Texas newspaper, ran an article in 2009 Garsee makes mark on history by recording it as it happens with some of his life story, time in the Navy learning broadcasting and, later, reporting from Iraq.
• Inside Tucson Business: KOLD’s Randy Garsee is fired after sending e-mail
• Media Line article by Erin White, with quotes from Randy: KOLD anchor says he was fired for e-mail
• Randy Garsee: War Zones & Wonders (Randy's website)

(Some of those links — like Randy's Facebook and LinkedIn pages — may eventually disappear. I'll leave them here in case they help someone track down the information some day.)

Jerry

Update (November 8, 2020): Today I noticed an Arizona Daily Star interview with Randy that was published May 1, 2008: Former anchor's site documents city murals.