Texas is mourning the death of a beloved longtime TV anchor, and one former San Antonio on-air personality shared a heartfelt tribute on social media.
Zora Asberry, a former News 4 and KABB traffic anchor, remembered her NewsWest 9 co-anchor Victor Lopez in a length Facebook post on Thursday, September 17. Lopez died after a two-year battle with colon cancer, the West Texas TV station announced Thursday. He joined NewsWest 9 in 2007 as a reporter and moved to the anchor desk in 2011, where he crossed paths with Asberry as her first co-anchor.
“Victor, I love you and I will forever cherish the time we spent together as partners on the news desk,” she wrote on Facebook, describing him as “the happiest, funniest, most cheerful guy” and the life of the party on early morning shifts. Asberry remembers Lopez as a mentor who took her under his wing, and the two “had a ball anchoring together,” she said. She shared fond memories of Lopez rolling his eyes “playfully every-time I mentioned Beyoncé” and “the look he’d give over his glasses, as he paused and curated a brilliantly phrased comeback that would end the discussion in a burst of laughter.”
“He absolutely loved his job and serving the Permian Basin community,” she wrote. “He had no desire to run off to a bigger market, he was dedicated to telling the stories of the citizens of West Texas. We had so many laughs during commercial breaks, even up until the very last second sometimes. He was so invested in me and what I had going on in my social and my dating life at the time (lol). He was always on-time when I was always late, there to cover for me, even take my reads when I didn’t realize it was my turn.”
Asberry worked as a morning anchor and reporter at NewsWest 9 from November 2014 to December 2016, according to her LinkedIn. In that time, she said she and Lopez “basically invented Facebook LIVE and he loved interacting with the viewers on social when the live steaming era began.”
“When others doubted my ability to lead the ship, you were there encouraging me every step of the way,” she said. “We will miss you Victor Lopez.”
Asberry left KABB/News 4 in August 2019, relocating to Las Vegas to work at the local ABC affiliate for the following two years. She has since founded a public relations, social media management and media coaching firm. MySA reached out to Asberry for additional comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
This article originally published at Former San Antonio TV anchor Zora Asberry mourns death of Texas co-anchor.