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Employees of WVEC-TV remembered former general manager Mario A. Hewitt, who died of cancer during the weekend in Houston, as caring, generous and boisterous.
“The employees here just loved him, they absolutely loved him,” said Janet Roach, who co-anchors the noon and 5:30 p.m. news shows. “There were a number of us who would call him from time to time.”
Hewitt was diagnosed with cancer last year, she said.
He moved from director of sales and marketing at WVEC to general manager in May 1997 and led the station to dominance in local news ratings at the dinner hour.
He left in 2006, citing personal reasons. He had been charged with drunken driving two weeks before his resignation. He was 56 at the time.
He went to work for a company in Houston shortly afterward, according to employees from WVEC who kept in touch with him.
“He hired good people and he trusted that they would do the best job and then he sort of stood back and supported it,” Roach said.
Deb Shollenberger, the station’s program manager, described Hewitt as generous and a “boisterous, laughing and loud kind of man.”
“You couldn’t ask to talk with anyone any nicer, be it personally or professionally,” Shollenberger said. “From my perspective he was one of the coolest men I’ve ever met.”
Funeral arrangements were not final.
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Just Wrong
Shame on you, Virginian-Pilot...
I used to work with Mario at WVEC and he was a great guy who treated his employees with respect... something we see less and less of in the corporate world. He hired people because they had the skills to do the work they were hired for and then let them do the work without a lot of unnecessary restrictions. The DUI mention in the article is just wrong and unfortunately just another example of the kind of bias The Virginian-Pilot regularly exhibits when it comes to local television coverage. It's sad that they felt the need to continue that "tradition" in an article of this nature.
Goodbye Mario. You were a good man.
Mario Hewitt-former GM of WVEC
I would like to offer my condelences to Mario's family. He was a great individual and I feel lucky to have known him both professionally and personally.
I too find the mention of the DUI by VP to be extremely in poor taste as well as unprofessional to mention this in the memorial article. The memorial should be about his achievements in his life and not his faults. Who are we to judge, since we all have failed at some point in time in our lives.
Poor taste
I do not agree, markk33831. It was in very poor taste for the Pilot to include that info in his memorial piece, period.
The Pilot ran with Hewitt's DUI story in January of 2006. They were the first with it. And they don't want us to forget that they were the first.
To the Virginian Pilot...does it make you feel good to take one last stab at the guy even though he paid for his mistake?
To Mario's family and friends...my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Mr. Hewitt
Good to see the comment from Mr. Klein. I joined him and Mr. Hewitt at the CBS Affiliate in Houston Texas. I have never read this paper and based on this article.... Mr. Hewitt was a good human being and a nationally known and respected Broadcast Media Professional. I do not have to repeat what has already been mentioned by a number of his staff members who had the opportunity to work with, and for him. I do have a problem with the inclusion of the “smudge” in what is in effect a memoriam to Mario. I have to wonder had he had not been driving his Turbo-Porche and a wearing a expensive suit would he even have be stopped at all. It is my sincere hope that the fine journalists in the newsroom at WVEC use this article as motivation to pull all the police video from the past few years and see how many other notable residents have endured the same fate. Great working your Mario ! My you rest in peace !
markk33831
I completely disagree with you. Probably the only people who knew he had a DUI were friends and those in the biz. If they did a story about it, I certainly don't remember it.
I didn't even know the man, but when I read the part about his DUI, I just thought it was mean.
The VP doesn't seem to care. They post these things online and often edit them for the hard copy with corrections, updates, etc. Nope. Not the Pilot. Today's hard copy has the verbatim article.
You can't have it both ways.
It is sad that he passed away but the next person would be commenting that the DUI wasn't brought up and that by not doing it was some sort of a 'cover-up.' The paper was honest and direct about the man's leaving and what happened to him here. With people, you have both good and bad. When they pass on, only printing the good is one sided. People will remember him, I don't doubt, for the good that he did do, but know and remember that he was human too - like all of us.
fishwrapper shows its true colors.....
Sadly, the fishwrapper shows that it's a crap newspaper....again.
No reference to the DUI was necessary, a simple reference to "personal reasons" would've sufficed....
What's next.... a piece by the esteemed "judge" of character Kerry D?
Unnecessary and Uncaring
It was totally unnecessary and uncaring to include the DUI reference. I knew Mr. Hewitt when he lived in Hampton Roads and served on a board with him. He deserves better treatment than this from The Pilot. So dreadfully distasteful and uncivil.
Poor Journalism
I was fortunate to be Mario Hewitt's friend for over 20 years and work for him for 9 years at WVEC-TV. He was very passionate about the business and helping people develop themselves personally and professionally was his main focus in life.
I found it odd that the Virginian Pilot ran the original story of Mario's DUI charge and then mentioned it again in the memorial piece. If The VP is going to cover those type of stories then cover them all...how many notable people in the area have had the same thing happen to them? If these are the types of stories that need to be told then it is no wonder that over the next few years the Virginian Pilot will be printed for the sole purpose of potty training our animals.
The story is probably well intended, however, being so lazy as to cut and paste the DUI information on such a good person was a gross misrepresentation of quality journalism.
Mario was a fine man and those who knew him were blessed.
Already said but...
It is in true distaste that the Pilot would add to this man's article that he had a DUI. It would have been nice to leave it at, "he left for personal reasons." The pilot should apologize to the family and friends of this gentleman.