Dax Tejera, executive producer ofThis Weekon ABCand father of two girls, has died at the age of 37.

Tejera died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, ABC News president Kim Godwin announced in a memo shared with staff, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.

ABC/Danny Weiss

NEWS - Dax Tejera, Executive Producer, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” (ABC/Danny Weiss)

“As EP of ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ Dax’s energy, passion and love for that show, ABC News, and you, shined every Sunday morning. That same love was extended to his precious girls,” Godwin wrote. “Our thoughts are with his wife, Veronica, the couple’s two young daughters, and the entire Tejera family”

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Tejera’s position at the program started just before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, three years after he joined ABC News in 2017 as a senior producer, perThe Hollywood Reporter. Before that, he worked as executive producer for Jorge Ramos' program on Fusion and as a producer at MSNBC.

Photojournalist Anthony Quintano also shared his thoughts onTwitter, alongside photos of the duo together looking at a computer screen on set.

“I’m shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and former colleague@DaxTejera. He was an amazing force in the news industry and will be sorely missed,” he wrote. “Rest in peace, my friend.”

J Pat Carter/AP/Shutterstock

Mandatory Credit: Photo by J Pat Carter/AP/Shutterstock (6142753a) Dax Tajera In this photo, Dax Tejera, the Executive Producer of Fusion’s “America with Jorge Ramos”, conducts an early morning editorial meeting at the Miami studio. The long-awaited, sorta Hispanic love child of ABC and Univision networks will be birthed Oct. 28. Fusion, as it’s called, is one of the most experimental television ventures in recent history. The network is seeking to target millennials with Hispanic flavor, but executives are quick to underline that their baby is not an exclusively Hispanic network. Like a growing number of American families, the new network is geared toward a generation where cultural Fusion is the norm. The mostly English-language network is edgy, channeling Comedy Central, CNN, Vice and Univision all in one. The channel _ which could set the bar for the future of Hispanic media _ poses little risk to ABC, which is mostly providing its existing distribution channels. But for Univision, the network could be a game changer as it seeks to anchor its future among both recent immigrants and the expanding population of second and third generation Latinos and beyond CORRECTION This is Fusion, Miami, USA

Others remembered the producer as “one of the kindest and brightest lights,” a man who “would move heaven and earth” to tell a good story, and someone who was “sharp, thoughtful, unflappable, and fun.”

“Dax was a force of enthusiasm, intelligence and passion,“wrote MSNBC anchorJosé Díaz-Balart.“He was a true public servant. I was privileged to have known and worked with him. QEPD amigo, un abrazo infinito.”

source: people.com