After the jump you'll find KXAS-Channel 5's video tribute to Brett Johnson, the 13-year station veteran who died Sunday at the age of 48. The NBC affiliate reports that Johnson -- whose affinity for Texcentric tales made him the station's down-home-style version of Bob Phillps -- died of pancreatitis, for which he was admitted to Baylor All Saints Hospital on Wednesday. Ed Bark fills in the significant details as provided by Johnson's close friends, including WFAA-Channel 8's Brett Shipp, a classmate at Stephen F. Austin University, and KXAS anchor Mike Snyder. Notes a devastated Shipp, who spoke to Ed shortly after the family decided to take Johnson off life support, the Fort Worth native had planned on going on vacation with his girlfriend the very day he was admitted to the hospital.
This is what Mike Snyder had to say of his longtime colleague when speaking to Ed earlier today:
Snyder, his voice breaking, said, "They disconnected the machines while we were at church this morning saying prayers for him . . . Brett was without question a man's man and a reporter's reporter. In a newsroom full of people in a mad dash, Brett was always someone who'd stop by your desk and make you laugh. He was just one of those endearing souls. We were just extremely lucky to have him."
