Veteran TV journalist Rick Sallinger dies at 74

DENVER (KDVR) — Veteran television journalist Rick Sallinger, who reported on major events around the globe before he landed in Denver more than three decades ago, has died at 74.

Sallinger “passed away peacefully” on Wednesday night, according to his family, who made the announcement Thursday on social media .

“For 30 years he was a devoted journalist in Denver. He loved every second of it,” the family wrote. “He was the best father to his two sons and a loving husband to his wife of 30 years.”

Sallinger announced in December he would be leaving the Denver CBS affiliate “due to health reasons.”

Sallinger began reporting at CBS News Colorado in 1993 and earned awards for his work in the decades that followed, according to the station . His career before that took him to the forefront of historic world events.

Sallinger was a native of Chicago, where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and he reported on the radio in Chicago and Cleveland and for TV in Indianapolis, Denver and Chicago, according to CBS News Colorado . His work as a correspondent for CNN’s London bureau sent him on multiple trips to the Middle East after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and in the years that followed, he also covered the reunification of Germany, the war in Yugoslavia and major world events in several other countries.

CBS News Colorado cited a 1986 newspaper report that said Sallinger always intended to return to Colorado.

“Sallinger was proud to call Colorado his home,” the station wrote in a tribute, “and will be missed greatly not only by all of his coworkers but by all who watched his award-winning reporting throughout the years.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.