Former ABC15 reporter, anchor Christopher Sign passes away

we have some difficult news to share with you a tremendous loss for the abc 15 family as we learn that christopher sein has passed away he spent more than a decade with us here in the valley and tonight we remember our colleague and our friend hello friends i'm christopher stein have a look at your weekend traffic restrictions and alerts christopher sein wore many hats and while many of you got to know him as a tv anchor others knew him as a father a husband a university of alabama football player a friend he was a good man he was the kind of guy completely devoted to his faith his country his family he was so happy and madly in love with his wife laura and i remember the first time that he became a father at abc 15 how thrilled and excited he was how humbled he was by the responsibility of becoming a dad as a teammate chris didn't have many peers at all he was a consummate pro chris will tell you that he played little football in college played in the trenches played o-line but when we sent chris out on a story it was our quarterback leading the team down the field always making sure that we got that story right starting in 2005 chris spent more than a dozen years at abc 15 covering every story you can imagine from wildfires to the big story of the night or the big game even breaking news on a national level former president bill clinton was in town and met up with u.s attorney general loretta lynch chris would eventually write a book about that secret tarmac meeting one of many stories that showcased his talent and professionalism you were everything that a journalist should be incredibly hard working passionate to the point of being obsessed and competitive is all hell and we learned so much from you he was an excellent journalist i wanna the one thing about chris is during all that time that i worked with him he was just wasn't a great co-worker he became a friend he came to my wedding um and the thing that always stood out to me was just how disarming he was chris i have this this vision of him always leaning back almost putting his feet up and and he could make anyone comfortable and have a conversation with anyone almost instantly he could instantly make you comfortable i'm not sure that there is a person isn't a person out there he couldn't make a friend that's what i that's what i think of when i i think of chris and i just don't know really what else to say it feels surreal to have to take this and to have to do this but chris was just such an amazing person from the moment i started working at abc 15 chris took me under his wing he was more than just a mentor though he was really like a big brother to me the entire time that we worked together but beyond his award-winning reporting chris had a welcoming way about him he truly showed you he cared he's the kind of a guy who was not just your competitor or your co-worker once we worked together but he was like a family member a close friend we were like brothers in contact to recent weeks where we would text each other things about our family and things about what was happening in our lives what i want everybody to remember is what a great human being he was give you the shirt off of his back and he would help you do anything and that's what that's what i hope that we can remember about christopher stein chris also wasn't afraid to joke as former abc 15 news director joe hegan mueller says there really were two christophers and people loved being around both of them there was the hard news reporter who could go out and get the big story but there was also the silly and the fun christopher and one day i walked into my office and i saw him sitting there in my chair we had a good laugh about that for years this photo it's one of my favorites and i'll cherish it forever he also had some pretty incredible dance moves on full display in one of my favorite photos that's chris taking my mother-in-law for a spin around the dance floor at my wedding in 2015. in 2017 he moved back to alabama to raise his three sons with his wife laura because above all beyond the bright lights big headlines and the next big story for chris his family always came first to know chris was to know that he was such a family man and everything he did was for them and because of them and it was it was so admirable and there was a lot to admire about chris my thoughts and prayers are tonight with his wife laura and their boys chris's death is just absolutely heartbreaking and i think so many of us still in shock today and and craig i mean you worked with him for so many years 13 years you know and we were both offensive linemen in college we both played football and and uh we had that bond instantly because we had played football and i coached for many years as you know and and chris and i were always ready to talk about sports because he was a huge sports fan oh yeah and this just all took us by shock today and this is really really difficult news to digest yeah and i think anybody who's said anything about him today it's always gone back to just what an amazing person he was an amazing husband and father and just how desperately we will all miss him and so christopher sein just 45 years old you will be so so missed my friend rest in peace you

Channel: ABC15 Arizona

Views: 514,122

Keywords: abc15, abc15 reporter, chris sign

Id: zPs9PvESHmk

Length: 6min 13sec (373 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021