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Neena Pacholke Has Died, Aged 27

Neena Pacholke Dead: An American television news anchor and ex-college basketball star died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 27.
Credit: neenapacholketv via Facebook

American television news anchor and ex-college basketball star Neena Pacholke died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 27.

According to the New York Post, Pacholke died in an ‘apparent suicide’ leaving her family and colleagues stunned.

A statement from the Wisconsin channel she presented on, 9 WAOW, said in a statement: “Neena Pacholke, our beloved morning anchor passed away suddenly Saturday.

Watch as journalists reflect on mental health after Pacholke’s passing…

“The entire team here at News 9 are absolutely devastated by the loss as we know so many others are as well.”

9 WAOW continued in their statement: “She was a kind person with a big heart and a contagious smile and we will miss her greatly.”

Her co-anchor Brendan Mackey said Pacholke was ‘the brightest light in the room’ with the ‘biggest smile and the funniest laugh’.

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“I have never met anyone in my entire life that is more loved than this girl,” he wrote in a tribute post on Facebook.

“Every day she made people smile, whether that was through a tv screen or just being an incredible friend. She was so happy and so full of life and a role model.”

Pacholke joined 9 WAOW as a multimedia journalist in May 2017 and was promoted to anchor in February 2019, according to her website.

Pacholke grew up in Tampa and played basketball for the University of South Florida. She was engaged at the time of her sudden death, her sister Kaitlynn Pacholke told Tampa Bay Times.

She said: “She was just like a little ball of sunshine, and her smile was massive.

“My sister was by far the happiest person I thought I knew.”

She continued: “Sometimes you just don’t know what people are going through, no matter how much you think you know someone… My sister had access to every resource you could imagine.

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“She was loved by everybody. She was so good at her job.”

Twitter activity on Pacholke’s account showed a retweet from August 3 about positivity and believing ‘the best is yet to come’.

The tweet read: “We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard.

“Give yourself (and others) grace. Speak life and encourage others. Look for the good today. Remember your WHY. Believe the best is yet to come.”

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Written by Cal Gaunt

Cal is a former content editor at IGV who specialised in writing trending and entertainment news. He previously worked as a news reporter at the Lancashire Telegraph and earned an NCTJ in Sports Journalism.