Andy Weintraub Died Today

I just found out that my longtime colleague, friend, and news cameraman at KCAL Andy Weintraub, passed away today, and I am very sad.

What many did not know was that Andy was also one of the pioneers of Internet TV and Internet video and helped me create our "MoreDeals" website back in the 1990's.

Andy shared a vision that the Internet will be dominated by video -- and that every website could be a TV station with many video channels. He recognized that video would be the magic that would make online selling successful.

Our MoreDeals site was among the first sites to use video. We called it the first "buy and sell, show and tell video website" because we had planned to make it an all-video site. We planned for Internet TV years before it became fashionable.

Andy was also a good soul, a caring person, and a devoted and serious newsman. He was a great father and cared about the environment and making Los Angeles and Southern California a better place to live. He advocated solar power and rushed to have solar power on his home.

He loved his crafts of videography and photography. He loved the personality of the news and he loved being part of the world of news and meeting with newsmakers and being friendly and personable to all. Andy was honored for his videography and was a leader of a professional organization of news photographers here in Los Angeles. He was an advocate for news photography excellence.

But he was more than a news photographer -- he was also a dedicated newsman.

Andy didn't know how to say "no" to anyone needing help and it hurts me so that he was robbed of so many good years that should have been his.

Andy was a victim of Parkinsons Disease and died from its complications. He was 59 and was forced to retire from KCAL/KCBS several years ago because of the illness.

I just came back from a Celebration of Life for Andy. It was held at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and there were about 150 friends and relatives there to remember Andy, to celebrate his life. It was good to see everyone -- all had warm memories of Andy going to when he was a kid in school, through his career, and his years as a husband and parent. I had the opportunity to speak at the event and I very simply said that even though he was taken from us early, Andy had a wonderful life because everyone loved him, and respected him, and we knew that cared above everyone.

In the Jewish religion there is a belief that when we pass we go to be with God in what might be called a giant amphitheater and those who in their lives were good to others, and shared and gave and helped others would sit closer to God. I am sure Andy is in the front because he was that good of a guy who helped others professionally and personally. He was a friend in the truest sense as well as being one of the top news cameramen I've ever worked with and a visionary who saw the future of environmental protection and the birth of Internet TV.

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