UPDATE: The article was updated to include comments from Barton Deiters wife, Lorena, about his death.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Barton Deiters, who became a WOOD TV 8 reporter after 16 years at The Grand Rapids Press/MLive, died Friday, April 16, the station said.
Deiters, 56, and his wife, Lorena, have two children, Harrison and Sophie.
In a Facebook post late Friday, his wife said he promised months ago to fight to get his life back.
“Today, I told him he didn’t have to fight anymore,” Lorena Deiters wrote.
“So the love of my life, my soulmate and best friend and the wonderful father to my two amazing children peacefully passed on a few hours ago. … I only know that I was fortunate that he chose me to share his life. His love is and always will be my most cherished gift.”
He had battled the West Nile Virus since being diagnosed in September. He was hospitalized throughout the ordeal but returned home last month to cheers from his colleagues. Everyone was hopeful, with co-workers putting in new flooring to help him get around inside, TV 8 reporter Ken Kolker said.
In March, WOOD TV updated viewers on Deiters public battle with the illness after six months. In 2012, he underwent a liver transplant.
Deiters was a graduate of East Kentwood High School and James Madison College at Michigan State University where he worked for the State News and WKAR public radio.
Early on, he wrote for The Detroit Free Press, Lansing State Journal and Holland Sentinel. He started with WOOD TV 8 in January 2016, after working the crime and court beat for many years for MLive.
He also once owned a comic-book store. He had a dry, sometimes biting, sense of humor. He wore mismatched suits with old-style Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers topped off with a fedora.
“He wasn’t like, ‘Made for TV,’ but you know, it worked well. He ended up having a cult following on TV,” Kolker, also a former Press reporter, said.
He described Deiters as “quirky.” The last time he saw him, Deiters was in bed, watching Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.”
“Everybody loved the guy. He was a newspaper guy who was thrown on TV and it worked well for him.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for his family, who reside in Wyoming.
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