The parents of WPXI-TV news anchor David Johnson’s wife Nancy both died of covid-19 within hours of each other in a Florida hospital, Johnson said in a Facebook post.
“My wonderful in-laws, Nancy’s parents Gerald and Arline Polinsky, passed away peacefully last night in a hospital in Florida,” Johnson wrote Tuesday.
The couple contracted the coronavirus over the past couple of weeks, Johnson wrote.
“He contracted the virus almost two weeks ago — she got it only two days ago. Hospital staff was able to put them in the same room — their beds, side by side. He succumbed before midnight, then only a couple of hours later, she left us,” Johnson said. “As his body was being moved out of their room, the nurses told us that she noticed and said, ‘Together, Jerry!’ ”
Jerry Polinsky was 89 and Arline was 86 and they were married for 64 years, Johnson said.
“When my own parents died years ago, they became my ‘mom and dad.’ I didn’t hesitate to call them that because they were, in every way. And I couldn’t have asked for better grandparents for my boys. I saw up close that their love was a beautiful thing.”
David Johnson’s wife, Nancy Polinsky Johnson, is publisher of Shady Ave magazine.
