Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
WPXI anchor David Johnson's in-laws both die of coronavirus | TribLIVE.com
Coronavirus

WPXI anchor David Johnson's in-laws both die of coronavirus

Paul Guggenheimer
2554711_web1_ptr-liv-anchorsWeb-083014
Tribune-Review
David Johnson, shown in 2014, with Peggy Finnegan at the WPXI-TV studios in Summer Hill.

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.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Coronavirus | Local | Allegheny | Top Stories
Content you may have missed