Tyler Butler and Carsyn Currier from CBS affiliate KOLD-TV 13 News reported on December 16 that Orsini, 28, died ‘unexpectedly’ earlier this month from a brain aneurysm.
“Our beloved friend and co-anchor Ana Orsini passed away unexpectedly last week,” Butler told the audience.
Currier became distraught, and her co-host attempted to console her, telling viewers, “We are devastated by this loss.”
Butler then began his speech, saying, “We had the privilege to work with her every day. The funny, wacky girl you saw on-air was just as quirky off-camera, if not more so.”
Butler and Currier donned pink to memorialize their colleague, Orsini.
The news presenter joined the team in June 2023, and the station played a video tribute including some of Orsini’s finest moments from her tenure with 13 News.
According to a statement from 13 News, Ana’s colleagues and coworkers remember her as someone who had boundless empathy and always spoke up for ‘the little guy.’”.
“She was a happy face, especially for her newest and youngest coworkers, and she is well-known in all of the newsrooms where she worked for taking them under her wing and serving as a strong mentor in both work and life.
“She was passionate about rescuing animals, and if she wasn’t celebrating Fur Baby Friday, she was looking for a new home for a darling in need. If Ana discovered you liked true crime as much as she did, she would share the calendar she used to monitor the release dates of all the new episodes of the greatest podcasts.
The statement continued, “Her favorite was True Crime Obsessed, and if you spent more than five minutes with Ana without hearing her favorite quote from it, ‘Let the women do the work,’ then something was seriously wrong!” She was a peanut butter-M&M-loving, platform-Ugg-wearing, pink-or-purple-Stanley-toting beacon of light, even at 4:00 a.m.
Many condolences have poured in, including from Cory Kowitz, a meteorologist at KOLD, who said on Twitter: “Last week, we lost a cherished member of our KOLD news team. Ana Orsini was our anchor, the morning team’s leader, and, most significantly, a close friend to many of the station staff. I had the pleasure of working with her in the morning, albeit for too short a time.
“Thank you to our brilliant morning crew for creating this wonderful memorial film.
“Rest in peace, Ana.”
