Kathy Secker, television presenter, Died at 70

  Media

Kathy Secker was born in 1945, and died on December 15, 2015.

Kathy was a British broadcaster and television presenter.

After working as a secretary to an ENT specialist and a bank clerk, her husband persuaded her to consider a career as a model, which proved to be successful.

Kathy was then the face of an advertising campaign for the Northern Gas Board.

The popularity of the gas board campaign led to Kathy being offered a role as a continuity announcer for Tyne Tees Television in 1976.

Following the 1979 ITV technicians’ strike, Kathy was the first presenter back on air.

Kathy left the station in 1985, returning in 1990.

In 1993, Kathy was appointed joint-Chief Announcer alongside Bill Steel.

When in-vision continuity ended in 1996, she moved to the news team, presenting the Tonight programme and the early morning news bulletins.

Kathy left Tyne Tees Television in 1998.

Up until her death Secker presented the weekly programme Sunday Dedications on BBC Radio Newcastle.

Kathy also ran her own business, First Impressions, offering women advice on style, beauty and fashion.

Kathy was raised in Bedlington, Northumberland. She was married to childhood sweetheart Wally Secker from the late 1960s until the early 1990s, when they divorced. She later married Tyne Tees Television colleague James Whitley in Kenya in 1997.

She had two children, a son David and a daughter Jayne Secker, who is a presenter on Sky News.

On December 16, 2015, it was announced, Kathy had passed away at home in Jesmond the previous day aged 70.