Don Harmon Death

Don Harmon Death, Don Harman, the fun-loving weathercaster and personality on Kansas City’s most popular morning show, has died.

Harman, a 41-year-old native of Ohio, was hired by WDAF “Fox 4” in 1999 to replace Gary Lezak and quickly became part of a high-spirited team that was No. 1 in the ratings for years.

Fans were grieving reports of his death Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, even as station officials at WDAF/Fox 4 struggled to balance the online outpouring of sympathy with their journalistic obligation to wait until the next of kin — in this case Harman’s father — could be notified.

Harman’s close friend and morning show co-host Mark Alford looked shell-shocked as he read the announcement at 4:45 a.m. asking for patience from viewers who were bombarding the station’s switchboard and posting messages to social media. The announcement was repeated through Fox 4’s morning newscast.

“We know a lot of you out there have questions about what’s going on. We do appreciate your concerns. We consider you our friends,” Alford said.

His co-anchor Loren Halifax continued: “We do ask you, though, to remember that family comes first. And we are honoring that.”