Beloved CBS Anchor Dies of CTE: Jon Burnett Was 71

Longtime CBS Pittsburgh news anchor and weather forecaster Jon Burnett has died. Pittsburgh news station KDKA-TV confirmed on Thursday, Feb. 20 that the beloved TV journalist passed away of complications of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). He was 71. His date of death was not disclosed.

“Beloved former KDKA-TV personality Jon Burnett has died,” a statement shared to Instagram by the station read. “Remembered as authentic, original, talented and compassionate, he leaves behind an incredible legacy.”

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CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a progressive degenerative brain disease that causes the death of nerve cells in the brain, per the Mayo Clinic. The condition is caused by repeated head injuries, and most often seen in those who play contact sports, members of the military, and victims of physical abuse. The disease cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death and through an autopsy of the brain.

Burnett’s doctors diagnosed him with suspected CTE last February. At the time, it was reported that the disease was likely caused by Burnett’s years of playing football, first as tackle football throughout childhood and later as a defensive end at the University of Tennessee, during which time he suffered two major concussions. Burnett had been suffering from memory loss for about a decade by the time he received the suspected diagnosis, and in the years after he retired in 2019, continued to experience numerous other neurological disorders affecting his speech and mobility, his family said.

A beloved figure on Pittsburgh TV screens for decades, the Knoxville, Tennessee native relocated to Pittsburgh in 1982 following his football career. He joined KDKA-TV I that same year, hosting the station’s Evening Magazine with Liz Miles and later with Mary Robb Jackson, and began hosting Pittsburgh 2Day beginning in 1985. By the early ‘90s, Burnett had joined the KDKA weather team. He went on to serve as a meteorologist for the station for nearly three decades.

“When you saw Jon on TV, you would immediately say, ‘That’s a guy I wouldn’t mind having in my living room live and in person,’” former KDKA meteorologist Dennis Bowman said.

After receiving his suspected CTE diagnosis, Burnett joined an ongoing study by the National Sports Brain Bank at the University of Pittsburgh and agreed to posthumously donate his brain to aid the program’s research and treatment of brain disorders and CTE. According to KDKA-TV, since its story about Burnett’s diagnosis aired, the number of people signed up to be part of the research at the National Sports Brain Bank more than doubled.

Burnett is survived by his wife, Debbie, and adult children, Samantha and Eric.