An NBC News employee has died after testing positive for the coronavirus. The company confirmed Friday that longtime technician Larry Edgeworth had passed away. The news was announced to fellow employees at the company with a memo sent by NBC News President Andrew Lack.
“I’m deeply saddened to tell you that we’ve lost a longtime member of our NBC News family – Larry Edgeworth passed away yesterday,” Lack wrote,” according to Deadline. “Larry most recently worked in the equipment room on the fifth floor, but prior to that he spent most of his 25 years at NBC News as a skilled audio technician, often traveling to the most remote locations.
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“Many of you were fortunate enough to work with Larry over the years, so you know that he was the guy you wanted by your side no matter where you were,” he added. “Stacy Brady says he was known as the ‘gentle giant who would give you the shirt off his back.’”
Edgeworth is survived by his wife, Crystal, and two sons, with Lack writing that “we are doing everything we can to support his family during this very difficult time.”
NBC is currently among a number of news organizations to have confirmed cases of coronavirus among its employees. On Monday, Today co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb announced that a staffer on the 3rd Hour of Today had tested positive for the virus. It is unclear if that staffer was Edgeworth.
“Before we go further, a personal note for this show: Last night we learned that a colleague of ours on the third hour of Today has tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus,” Guthrie said. “So out of an abundance of caution, Craig and Al have taken the morning off so we can trace their contacts, see what’s going on with them. We promise to keep you posted, both are fine right now, they feel good.”
In a memo at the time, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim explained that the staffer was “experiencing mild symptoms and receiving medical care” and laid out a number of measures the company would be taking to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its other employees, including a deep cleaning of Studio 1A, where the show is filmed, and pulling Al Roker and Craig Melvin from the air.
