This after­noon, we received the very sad news that one of Seat­tle’s best known news­cast­ers and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers is no longer with us.

Much-beloved Seat­tle news anchor Kathi Goertzen. (Pho­to cour­tesy of Dan Lewis and KOMO 4 News).

Kathi Goertzen, who for decades was the face of KOMO 4 News with coan­chor Dan Lewis, died around 12:45 PM today after a long, dif­fi­cult bat­tle with sev­er­al brain tumors, the sta­tion announced. She was fifty-four.

In a mes­sage to view­ers, KOMO’s news direc­tor Hol­ly Gauntt expressed grat­i­tude for the unwa­ver­ing sup­port Wash­ing­to­ni­ans have shown to Goertzen before, dur­ing, and after her many surg­eries — which altered her appear­ance but not her spirit.

Our co-work­er, our angel, our pre­cious friend, Kathi Goertzen, died today, sur­round­ed by her lov­ing family.

The long fight against the tumors that have rav­aged her brain is over. She is at peace now, com­fort­able and sur­round­ed by all that is good. Please know, as we do, that your love enveloped her. It strength­ened and encour­aged her. She loved your com­pas­sion and con­cern more than you’ll ever know. You helped her fight a valiant fight. We want to thank each and every one of you for that.

You tru­ly made a dif­fer­ence in our friend’s life. Kathi spoke of her own mor­tal­i­ty with courage. She was a woman of great faith who was con­fi­dent in the knowl­edge that her life on this earth was but one chap­ter in her jour­ney. Kathi is with God now, of that we are sure.

There is no more pain and suf­fer­ing. We hope you find com­fort in the words she spoke when talk­ing about this day:

“I’m not afraid to die. I have a great belief, a great faith there’s more. There’s more to me, there’s more to this life.”

Trib­utes appro­pri­ate­ly began flow­ing in imme­di­ate­ly. KING’s Jean Enersen and KIRO’s Steve Raible each record­ed clips hon­or­ing Kathi on behalf of their respec­tive sta­tions, which KOMO aired dur­ing its 5 PM news­cast this evening, joint­ly anchored by Dan Lewis, Steve Pool, Eric John­son, and Mary Nam.

Dan Lewis and Kathi Goertzen, KOMO TV’s charis­mat­ic and well-respect­ed anchor team. (Pho­to cour­tesy of KOMO News).

“Today, a piece of the fab­ric of my life is gone,” Pool told view­ers. He worked with Goertzen for more than three decades at KOMO, and was among those who knew her best. “She was the glue that held us all togeth­er [as a team],” he added.

The region’s elect­ed lead­ers also remem­bered Kathi.

“My heart is with the fam­i­ly, friends and col­leagues of Kathi Goertzen,” said Gov­er­nor Chris Gre­goire in a state­ment. “She had count­less fans, not just in Seat­tle, but around the globe, and was one of the finest peo­ple I knew. She was a ter­rif­ic jour­nal­ist because she cared deeply about her work and the peo­ple it touched. She had pas­sion and it showed. She put her heart and soul into every sto­ry, and was a warm and wel­come pres­ence at the anchor desk every evening.”

“As her fight against brain tumors waged on, we saw yet anoth­er side of Kathi. She was coura­geous, fear­less and inspirational.”

“Not afraid to share her own sto­ry, she remained strong, with that beau­ti­ful smile, to the end. Kathi bright­ened our lives and leaves a remark­able legacy.”

“As the face of KOMO News for twen­ty years, Kathi Goertzen was a suc­cess­ful and accom­plished jour­nal­ist who approached her work with integri­ty, com­pas­sion, and a ded­i­ca­tion to the pub­lic good,” agreed Seat­tle May­or Mike McGinn.

“Her strength and resilien­cy dur­ing her ill­ness made her an inspi­ra­tion to many in our com­mu­ni­ty. She will be long remem­bered in Seat­tle for her accom­plish­ments at the anchor desk as well as her grace in the face of adver­si­ty. Kathi was beloved by the peo­ple of Seat­tle, and we will miss her.”

“My heart­felt con­do­lences to Kathi’s fam­i­ly, her friends, and all who wel­comed her into their homes through the medi­um of tele­vi­sion,” said King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Con­stan­tine. “Kathi leaves a lega­cy of kind­ness, pro­fes­sion­al­ism, and strength as she grace­ful­ly bat­tled her ill­ness for more than a decade. She was an icon of tele­vi­sion news in the Pacif­ic North­west, and she will be missed.”

Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell, mean­while, paid a per­son­al vis­it to Fish­er Plaza to con­vey her con­do­lences to Goertzen’s fam­i­ly and col­leagues. She placed a bou­quet of flow­ers next to a col­lec­tion of oth­er items left to hon­or Goertzen’s memory.

“KOMO News’ Kathi Goertzen was as coura­geous as they come and an excel­lent Pacif­ic North­west jour­nal­ist. She nev­er gave up and will be great­ly missed,” Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray said on Twitter.

Goertzen was just twen­ty-two years old when she joined KOMO 4 News as a jour­nal­ist after grad­u­at­ing from Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty (WSU). With­in a few years, the sta­tion had pro­mot­ed her to the anchor desk.

She first anchored week­end news­casts, then began anchor­ing week­nights after it became appar­ent she was a great news­cast­er. In the late 1980s, the sta­tion hired Dan Lewis to join her behind the desk, and thus began what became the longest-run­ning part­ner­ship at a local news sta­tion west of the Mississippi.

Dur­ing her career, Goertzen won five Emmys and an Edward R. Mur­row Award for excel­lence in broadcasting.

Kathi Goertzen’s col­leagues remem­ber her dur­ing the August 13th, news­cast at 5 PM. Pic­tured are Steve Pool, Dan Lewis, Eric John­son, and Mary Nam.

Like many oth­er young Wash­ing­to­ni­ans, I grew up with Kathi Goertzen and Dan Lewis. They brought the news into my fam­i­ly’s liv­ing room, whether it was good or bad. Like Den­nis Bounds and Jean Enersen at KING5, they made a great team. It was evi­dent to me as a view­er that they weren’t just col­leagues — they, along with weath­er­man Steve Pool and sports anchor Eric John­son, were the best of friends. The cama­raderie they enjoyed was fun to watch, par­tic­u­lar­ly before Apple Cup week­end, when Pool (an ardent Husky fan) and Goertzen (an ardent Cougar fan) would end­less­ly tease each oth­er on-air.

All of us at NPI extend our deep­est con­do­lences to Kathi’s fam­i­ly, friends, and col­leagues, espe­cial­ly her hus­band Rick and daugh­ters Alexa and Andrea. She is also sur­vived by her par­ents and sisters.

Kathi was a remark­able anchor and a won­der­ful per­son. It would be an under­state­ment to say that we will miss her. Wash­ing­ton and the Pacif­ic North­west were blessed to have her as a jour­nal­ist and com­mu­ni­ty leader for over thir­ty years.