Legendary broadcaster Chuck Leonard will enter hospice care after a series of health setbacks according to a social media post by his wife Carole Mashburn. Leonard was taken last week by ambulance from Columbus to Emory Hospital to await a liver transplant.
“Today we learned that Chuck is not a candidate for a liver transplant. Due to his kidney failure, diabetes, and heart disease, he is much too sick,” Mashburn wrote on Facebook. “Our next steps will (hopefully be) to transfer to a hospice facility/unit in Columbus.”
Generations of viewers grew up waking up with Chuck Leonard as the morning anchor for the local ABC affiliate WTVM. Leonard spent nearly four decades at the station beginning with a noontime show “Good Day”. He also hosted a high school quiz program “Head to Head”. The city proclaimed December 20, 2019, as Chuck Leonard Day. That’s the day he retired after 38 years on air at WTVM.
His wife requested no flowers or food baskets at this time but cards and well wishes are always welcome. “Send special love and prayers for AE and Michael,” she said of their two children.
