Solid.

by Roger Pynn

Allow me a moment of personal privilege to note the life and career of a truly fine guy and an outstanding television journalist.  My friend and college classmate, Vince McGough, was known by the air name Scott Harris, passed away today.  More importantly he was known for qualities aspiring broadcast news people should emulate … the willingness to listen, curiosity and the determination to find answers without becoming abusive or disrespectful, and a twinkle in his eye that earned him countless friends in and out of the media.

Scottie had a laugh you could hear all across the territory he covered.  If you heard that laugh across a crowded room, you knew instantly who it was and it always made you smile.

He couldn’t laugh when I sat at his bedside Saturday.  But his many, many friends who came to be with him shared laughs and stories about Scott and his devotion to the news business and the young people in it … he always wanted to help grow young journalists as if tending a garden of roses.

Nothing said more to me about the man we will miss so much as the team of colleagues from the 24 hour news channel he helped to launch and build … the lobby at Hospice of The Comforter looked more like a branch of Central Florida News 13.  Throughout his final days, reporters, producers and meteorologists were there, welcoming visitors from among a long, long list of Central Floridians they had reached out to – old news friends, political leaders and college classmates – to be sure they would have one last moment with him.

Scott Harris would cover anything … but he loved politics and the NASA space program more than anything.  I can imagine him moderating debates in Heaven and how I envy the seat he’ll have for future launches.