DENVER — Longtime Denver journalist Rick Sallinger, who reported Colorado news for three decades, passed away at the age of 74 on Wednesday.
CBS News Colorado, his TV reporting home on Channel 4 since 1993, announced the news on Thursday morning.
“Sallinger was proud to call Colorado his home and will be missed greatly not only by all of his coworkers but by all who watched his award-winning reporting throughout the years,” said the station on its website.
Sallinger’s career included radio stints in Cleveland, Chicago and on the TV airwaves in Indianapolis, Chicago and with CNN in London, said KCNC.
He started his decades of service to Denver viewers at KUSA in the 1980s before eventually landing at KCNC.
The news of Sallinger’s passing struck fellow journalists who had the opportunity to get to know him while covering Colorado news over the years.
“I know many of you who have worked in the Denver market for any length of time have crossed paths with Rick in the field or seen his work. He was a fixture in this town for more than three decades,” said Megan Jurgemeyer, Denver7 senior news director in an email to staff. “Rick’s son, Marc, is also a journalist and works for KUSA. I suspect many of you know him, as well.”
As Sallinger approached his retirement from Denver TV in December 2023, he shared with The Denver Post what it was like to work in the field with his son nearby.
“It's funny when I show up at a story and see my son there competing with me. We don’t carpool, and we’ve got to draw a line about work — what we can talk about, and what we can’t,” said Sallinger.
He recounted one time setting up a chair in the basement of his house to let his son read headlines and “anchor” the news.
“I had an old News4 sign they had left me. So I put masking tape on the back and put it on the wall, and gave him some headlines to read. As he was reading, the sign fell off the wall and hit him on the head,” Sallinger told The Denver Post. “And now all these years later he’s a reporter and anchor for Channel 9.”
My dad, @ricksallinger, passed away peacefully last night
— Marc Sallinger (@MarcSallinger) May 9, 2024
He was the best father I could ask for. I loved adventuring around the world and seeing new places together
Working alongside him as competitors in Denver news was special everyday. I will miss it so much
Love you ❤️ pic.twitter.com/bgJG9KWyss
In a social media post, Marc said working with his dad as a competitor in the market "was special every day."
"He was the best father I could ask for. I loved adventuring around the world and seeing new places together," Marc wrote.
Sallinger received many high honors throughout his long Denver television news career, including a George Foster Peabody Award and just last year was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, according to KCNC.
Sallinger died of natural causes and leaves behind sons Marc and Eric, and his wife Isabel of 30 years.
Denver7 news staff send our condolences to Sallinger’s family and former colleagues at CBS News Denver.
