CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Auditor Mark Hunt said former news anchor-turned attorney Tom McGee should be remembered as an overcomer.
McGee died Sunday in Hospice care in Huntington. He was 78.
Hunt knew McGee during his anchoring days at WCHS and WOWK television. Hunt was also an investor in the CW station when it came to Charleston where McGee was hired to be its anchor.
Hunt talked about McGee’s life during an appearance Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
“Tom is an example of endurance. Tom is an example of overcoming problems and reinventing himself to become a new person,” Hunt said.
McGee’s problems with alcohol during part of his life were well-documented but Hunt said that’s not his lasting memory of McGee.
“Tom overcame. Tom didn’t take a drop of beer for probably the last 20 years (of his life) and Tom, at 60-years-old, went to law school, accomplished a law school stint, passed the bar and became a very good practicing attorney,” Hunt, who hired McGee at his law firm, said.
McGee came to Charleston in 1984 after working at CNN in Atlanta. Matt Sutton, the chief of staff for Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin, remembers seeing McGee at local events like a fish fry during Lent.
“A state senator would walk in and people would kind of say, ‘Oh, look who that is,’ but when Tom came in everyone stood up to go meet him because he was larger than life,” Sutton said.
Former Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said he had his share of run-ins with McGee over news stories but said they later became close friends. Jones said he admired how McGee chose to stay in Charleston.
“He got hooked. He couldn’t leave Charleston the same reason I can’t. We just love Charleston,” Jones said.
Hunt said McGee suffered from “many cancers” from his time in Vietnam. He said he fought until the end.
“He’s a testament to perseverance and he’s a testament to, you know, you don’t have to be a young person to overcome problems,” Hunt said.
McGee’s visitation will be held Thursday at Henson & Kitchen Funeral Home in Barboursville at noon. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation.