Damon Weaver, who interviewed President Obama as a kid, dies at 23

Damon Weaver, then 14, stands with actress Eva Longoria in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 2012.File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI

By Christen McCurdy

Damon Weaver, who at the age of 10 became an Internet sensation after interviewing then-President Barack Obama on camera, has died, family members said this week. He was 23.

Weaver’s sister, Candice Hardy, told WPTV that Weaver died two weeks ago after a brief hospital visit.

Family members are still waiting for word on the cause of death, Hardy said.

In 2009, at age 10, Weaver visited the White House to conduct a 10-minute interview with the president. He asked 12 questions on topics such as bullying, school lunches and conflict resolution, becoming the youngest person ever to interview a sitting president.

He later interviewed President Joe Biden, who was then a U.S. senator and a candidate for vice president, Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade and media mogul Oprah Winfrey.

"Damon was the kid who ran after me in the hall to tell me he was interested," Brian Zimmerman, the teacher who helped launch Weaver to fame, told the Palm Beach Post in 2016. "And right away, I just saw the potential for the way he was on camera. You could see his personality come through. He wasn't nervous being on camera."

A resident of West Palm Beach, Fla., Weaver graduated from Royal Palm Beach High School and earned a scholarship to Albany State University in Georgia, where he was pursuing a degree in communications.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Weaver returned to Florida in December to attend virtual classes.

On May 1, he texted Hardy to tell her he was in the hospital -- and by the time she arrived at the hospital from work, he had died, she said.

He intended to pursue a career in sports journalism covering the National Football League and acted as a mentor to other young journalists, Hardy said.

"A lot of people looked up to him," Hardy said. "With him being so young, he made a way for more students to engage in journalism."

"He was one of the few, one of the handpicked, that had that inspiration to be a great individual, and when someone passes along, and they have that greatness, that greatness goes with them," said the Rev. William Holmes, a pastor in the Pahokee area in Palm Beach County, where Weaver grew up.

A funeral service is set for noon Saturday at St. John First Baptist Church in Belle Glade, Fla. It will be limited to family due to COVID-19 restrictions but livestreamed on the Brown & Bussey Funeral Home's Facebook page.

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