Tributes for former B.C. news anchor struggling with Alzheimer’s disease

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Family and friends are sending thoughts of love and respect as long-time Global News B.C. anchor Deb Hope battles Alzheimer’s disease.

In a tribute in Thursday’s Province and Vancouver Sun newspapers, former colleagues Clive Jackson and Ian Haysom reveal she had already been showing signs of the condition when she retired six years ago.

Hope read the noon, 5:00 p.m., and then Global’s flagship “News Hour” broadcast, usually alongside Tony Parsons. She was also renowned for her laugh.

The beloved and respected news anchor was 59 when she retired, but signs of Alzheimer’s were already showing, says the article.

“When she was still reading the news, Deb had begun to stumble over words or names. She would ask her producers the same questions about a story or about the subject she was to interview.”

She now lives in a nursing home, unable to recognize her husband Roger or her two daughters — Katherine and Roxanne — or her stepdaughter Leah.

For anyone who grew up watching BCTV (later @GlobalBC), this news hurts. Deb, like Tony, Wayne, Squire, & the rest of the News Hour team, was like a member of the family. Exceptionally warm and funny on and off the air. My thoughts are with her loved ones. https://t.co/jFpPPt47Hq

— John Ackermann (@jackermann) October 8, 2020

In the article, her husband Roger Hope admits, “she’s not the real Deb anymore … and that’s breaking our hearts.”

But family, friends, and former colleagues remember her as full of joy, fun, and love.

She was always a meticulous journalist, always wanted to get it right, says the article.

Former news director Steve Wyatt said Deb was a tough and determined journalist but never failed to bring balance, fairness, and truth to every story she told.

“For her BCTV/Global family, Deb was more than what you saw on the screen,” says the article. “Much more. She was, in many ways, the life of the station. You often heard her before you saw her.”