Kimberly Easton didn’t always have the easiest time during her long broadcast journalism career, but she left her mark on every city in which she reported. Her career took her all over the country as she became an integral part of newsrooms in Virginia, Michigan, California, Illinois, Kentucky and, from 2003 through 2010, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh.
“She was a fighter and is a trailblazer,” said Jamie Jackson, a national correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks who worked closely with Easton as a reporter trainer at WPXI. “The trails that she blazed for people of color and women of color are indelible. They will never be erased.”
Ms. Easton was found dead in her Columbus, Ind., home Monday, according to her sister, Kelly Easton. The cause of death was heart failure, Kelly said. She was 56 years old.
“She was just really loving, kind to everyone,” her sister told the Post-Gazette. “Everyone she meets, they were instant friends. People just love her.”
Ms. Easton is also survived by her daughter Lake Whitehead, 27, of Columbus, Ind., and three grandchildren. She was divorced at the time of her death. The third Easton sister, Monica, died at age 30 from diabetes.
The Columbus native’s long career included interviewing beloved and well-known figures such as MLB legend Hank Aaron, poet Maya Angelou, actor Eartha Kitt and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to Easton’s self-written biography on her portfolio website.
During her time as a journalist, Ms. Easton picked up accolades from organizations including the National Association of Professional Women, Press Club of Western Pennsylvania and Michigan Associated Press Awards, according to her biography.
At WPXI, Ms. Easton endeared herself to colleagues like Mr. Jackson and Robin Beckham, the founder and editor of Pittsburgh Urban Media recruited in 1993 to serve as WPXI’s director of public relations. The two formed a fast friendship when Easton arrived at the station a decade later.
“She really would grind on a story,” Ms. Beckham recalled. “She wasn’t a lazy reporter. ... Kimberly was the type that they would get her out at 4 or 5 a.m. covering winter-related stories, and she had the attitude of, ‘I’m going to do this!’”
Ms. Easton’s time in Pittsburgh left such a lasting impression that Mayor Ed Gainey felt compelled to tweet out his condolences to her family earlier this week.
CommUnity. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Kimberly Easton. Thank you for every story shared. May she rest with god. pic.twitter.com/PTZpWYvEPV
— Ed Gainey (@gainey_ed) February 9, 2022
Mr. Jackson, a 35-year-old Penn Hills native now residing in Florida, was a sophomore at Shady Side Academy in 2003 when WPXI’s news director let him train under Ms. Easton. He recalled the “energy and light” she would bring to a room, and how she provided him with the personal and professional guidance he needed.
Ms. Easton could be a demanding mentor, even once making Mr. Jackson cry after she threw away some copy he wrote. But that’s the tough love Mr. Jackson said he needed to grow as a journalist and eventually become a White House correspondent for AURN during the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations.
They grew so close that Mr. Jackson became Ms. Easton’s godson. She always preached the importance of knowing your own value, Mr. Jackson said, a notion that has stuck with him and “countless Black journalists who are still active in the industry today.”
“She has always been there for me, and she’s always been the kind of mother and cheerleader a child should have,” Mr. Jackson said. “I didn’t get to the White House by myself. I got there through the grace of God and through Kimberly Easton, period.”
Before her death, Ms. Eaton was working as the multicultural coordinator at the Columbus-based Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation. Ms. Beckham said she would have weekly “long, drawn-out” phone calls with Ms. Easton. In many of them, she expressed a desire to help foster diversity in academia.
“She was really deep into education and on bridging the gap in terms of diversity and inclusion,” Ms. Beckham said. “She really believed the determining factor for breaking through racial barriers was quality of education.”
Ms. Beckham said Ms. Easton was “compassionate in her willingness to help those in need,” as evidenced by how she moved home to take care of her ailing parents. In recent years, she also cared for her sister, who has diabetes and is on kidney dialysis.
Ms. Easton had gotten into the habit of transporting her nephew, Keagan, to and from school. When she didn’t show up for Keagan on Monday, her sister ordered a wellness check, and she was found unresponsive.
“She was a go-getter,” Kelly Easton said. “She was very passionate about everything she worked on. She was passionate about her stories and her people. She was nonstop and wanted to make sure she got everything correct on everything she worked on.
“I just love her to death, and miss her already.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: February 10, 2022, 7:52 p.m.