RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Lisa Schaffner’s former colleagues at WRIC 8Information keep in mind the day she anchored the night broadcast from the garage.
It was 2003 and Hurricane Isabel was dumping drinking water on the area. The information station didn’t have a generator at the time so, with 1 digicam, a single microphone and a pair of stools, Mrs. Schaffner and her colleagues shared the news. Rain, nor lack of electronics, could cease the demonstrate.
Her tenacity, smile and form spirit were being prime of intellect as folks figured out of her premature demise. Mrs. Schaffner died Thursday, according to several sources. She was 59 yrs aged.
During her 22-calendar year career with WRIC 8News, Mrs. Schaffner was identified by the community for her dependable journalism and compassion. She commenced with the broadcast station as a standard assignment reporter in 1986 and grew to become the weekend anchor in 1988. She arrived to WRIC from WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and was a graduate of Ohio College.
In Richmond, she went on to anchor the evening broadcasts at WRIC from 1990 right until she remaining the news organization in 2008 to commit far more time with her household.
She instructed the Richmond Times-Dispatch at the time, “My daughter is entering significant college, my son is getting into middle school. I operate extremely extended hours, and it is pretty unforgiving. They had been born into this they did not have a option. They want me residence, and I want to be house at evening. I’m thrilled. They’re thrilled. It is all about household.”
By way of her career at 8News, Mrs. Schaffner grew to become the community confront for WRIC and earned admirers and praise throughout the region.
“Lisa was a consummate qualified dedicated to uplifting our neighborhood,” mentioned Juan Conde, 8News anchor and previous colleague. “She was a peerless lover and information to me. My condolences to her surviving relatives and enthusiasts. We’ll all skip her deeply. She was a excellent instructor to men and women who came by means of the newsroom. There wasn’t anyone who did not find out one thing from her.”
Mrs. Schaffner was nicely-recognised in the Richmond local community not only for her time guiding the anchor desk at 8Information but also for her tenure at UNOS as the Director of Marketing and General public Relations.
“Lisa was the very first particular person I achieved when I came to work at UNOS. Her enthusiasm for saving life via organ donation was contagious,” said Brian Shepard, CEO of United Community for Organ Sharing. “She cherished the men and women she worked with and the people she satisfied. It looks like each day she would have a new story that started off, ‘I just fulfilled the most intriguing person…’, because she’d encountered a stranger and designed them a close friend for life. The function she did to share the mission of organ donation actually saved people’s lives. I can not inform you how significantly UNOS will pass up her.”
She left UNOS in 2021 to grow to be the Vice President of Promoting, Business Enhancement and Income at Cranemasters, according to LinkedIn.
Mrs. Schaffner was also a contributor to Boomer Journal from 2014-2020 the place she shared stories about area nonprofit companies and their work in the community.
Quite a few Richmonders understood her as a presenter and host of nearby charity occasions. With a brilliant identity and keen feeling of timing, she was an emcee who could continue to keep significant crowds of people today laughing and engaged.
“Lisa was a leader. She was focused. She was tricky-performing,” said John Bernier, Chief Meteorologist at WRIC and a former colleague. “But she was also extremely personable to every person. It was nearly like everybody she satisfied was a buddy.”
In 2013, Mrs. Schaffner obtained the Girl on the Go award from the Central Virginia MS Society. In 2014, she gained the Robert Gallimore Distinguished Services Award from the Virginia Association of Push Broadcasters. The award is provided for “outstanding services in the community curiosity.”
“Lisa was a person of the 1st anchors in the market place starting up in the mid-1990s to spouse with significant non-revenue to help increase their consciousness and fundraiser degrees,” reported Carl Archacki, a Sr. Account Government at 8Information who labored with Mrs. Schaffner. “From the March of Dimes to United Methodist Family Solutions, to the once-a-year Jerry Lewis Telethon, to her devotion to UNOS, and so lots of much more, Lisa put a deal with on true require in our group. Her presence, smile and heat aided make Richmond a far better location to live. My heart aches to hear of her passing.”
Previously this 12 months Mrs. Schaffner married Tyrone Ashman at a May possibly wedding day at Whispering Pine Plantation in Amelia. She is survived by her husband and two children from a past marriage.
Funeral preparations are unavailable at this time.
