BATON ROUGE – The world lost a great father, brother, son and colleague Thursday with the death of Rod McKee, chief photographer at WBRZ.

Watch live funeral services here.

Rod’s career spanned three decades and two television stations in Baton Rouge and was among the greats of the pioneering 1980s-era television newsmen and women.  In his latest assignment, Rod oversaw the visual direction of WBRZ’s in-the-field reporting, leading a team of tenured news photographers and up-and-coming journalists eager to learn from someone with a keen eye for telling stories.

Photographers are the true laborers of a newsroom – first on the scene of breaking news, last to leave, plowing into a story and chaos like any other first responder.  Rod was always ready for action – and expected his team to be, too.

Rod died, surrounded by his family, after a long battle with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer.

“Our close-knit TV family lost part of our center today.  Rod covered just about every major story in Baton Rouge for a generation.  This is tough.  We’re coming together for his legacy and his family’s support today,” WBRZ owner and president Richard Manship said.

For the last few years, Rod has worked side-by-side with WBRZ anchor and 2 On Your Side investigator Brittany Weiss, helping to make people right after they were wronged by government, dirty contractors and shady characters.

"Rod was a great person to start the workday with and we covered a lot of ground together," Brittany Weiss said Thursday.  "He was my 2 On Your Side partner, a problem solver with decades of knowledge.  He had an expert eye for detail.  I will remember our stories, jokes and mornings together spent capturing the images he loved to share with viewers," she said.

He didn’t only record the worst moments in life – he also captured some of the best, working closely with primetime anchor Sylvia Weatherspoon during her weekly 2 Make A Difference segments.  Community service wasn’t just an assignment, Rod enjoyed making the community a better place.

“Everyone in the newsroom wanted Rod to shoot their stories. He always brought his 'A' game. His excellent skills as a photographer made all of us better writers and storytellers," Sylvia Weatherspoon said Thursday.

Sylvia and Rod were already working on - and looking forward to sharing on TV - their annual Christmas tradition: Sylvia's Spirit of Christmas special reports. 

Like any good news photographer, Rod knew Baton Rouge streets through and through.  A Baton Rouge native, Rod knew the people and places that made our community tick.  He grew up not far from WBRZ, in Old South Baton Rouge.  There was a time, he recalled, when he played on the hills that roll up to the television studio on Highland Road.

Later, Rod attended McKinley High and Southern University – he usually always wore blue at the office for his Jaguars. 

As chief photographer, Rod was a mentor – passionately teaching and coaching the next generation of television journalists.  The colleagues he helped guide are now reporting news across the United States, keeping Rod’s spirit alive from coast to coast.

In the newsroom in Baton Rouge, Rod’s spirit will live on each day as his colleagues here keep pushing for what’s right, telling stories for people who need theirs told and holding the powerful accountable.

Rod McKee, 58, a cherished member of the WBRZ family and Baton Rouge community, leaves behind two daughters, grandson, his mother and his daughters’ mother.  His cousin, Joe McCoy, is an investigative news photographer at WBRZ.

This story will be updated to include a link to an obituary, funeral information and details on how you can help keep Rod’s legacy alive.