Jovita Moore Dies At Age 54; Remembered As A 'Dear Friend To Many' And 'Georgia Icon'

ATLANTA — Atlantans woke Friday morning to learn that one of the most familiar faces of news in the city for the past six years was gone.

Channel 2 Action News’ Emmy Award-winning evening anchor Jovita Moore died Thursday evening after a seven-month-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer for which there is no cure.

Moore was 54 and is survived by her mother and her three children.

She was an influential voice in the Metro Atlanta area leading the top news broadcast in the market and in the state of Georgia. Moore spent more than 30 in the news business, devoting nearly 24 of those years to WSB TV.

Her broadcast career began at KFSM in Fayetteville, Ark., in 1990 after earning a Journalism Master’s degree from Columbia University.

She moved to NBC affiliate WMC-TV in Memphis, TN, where she would just over four-and-a-half years before leaving to join the WSB-TV newsroom in April 1998.

Leaders and colleagues Friday morning sent their thoughts and well wishes to honor her memory.

“Her intelligence, warmth and smile lit up the newsroom and I know you felt that as she delivered the news” said Carol Sbarge, Moore’s counterpart and morning anchor at Channel 2 tweeted. “You will be greatly missed Jovita.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called Moore a dear friend to many.

“Even those who did not know her personally felt a deep and personal connection to Jovita,” Bottoms tweeted.

Gov. Brian Kemp called Moore a “Georgia icon.”

“Her legacy as a Georgia icon and world-class journalist will live on in the hearts of everyone who welcomed Jovita into their homes countless times to inform them about their community and keep them and their families safe,” he tweeted.