RIP Pittsburgh Consumer Reporter & TV Legend Yvonne Zanos

One of the roles we treasure most at Kimmel and Silverman is serving as automotive consumer advocates, working with reporters and producers throughout the Nation to educate consumers on their lemon law and car buying rights.  Our efforts and our clients have been featured in hundreds of consumer stories, each designed to empower consumers to fight for their rights.

One of our favorite consumer reporters, beloved Pittsburgh reporter Yvonne Zanos, succumbed to ovarian cancer today, two days following her sixtieth birthday.  Over the years, we shared so many wonderful times with Yvonne; checking out the hot new rides at the Pittsburgh Auto Show, scouring through mall parking lots looking for cars that appear on NHTSA’s annual car complaint index, and just setting up cameras in the middle of car dealerships (and no one ever turned her away.)  Her smile was contagious, her anecdotes hilarious, and her love for the people of Pittsburgh unwavering.

Together, we worked to solve many consumer dilemmas, and the stories we collaborated on always generated a large amount of response.  She had her pulse on her viewer and she always knew the best way to tell the story.  She was at the forefront when Pennsylvania expanded the Lemon Law, and again with the first-ever computer lemon law bill.  If you called her with useful, up-to-the minute information, you could be assured she’d share it with her viewers at 5:00.

Our last correspondence with Yvonne was right before Thanksgiving, and she was front and center in the newsroom despite receiving treatments.  As she always did with her reporting, Yvonne fought a good fight, with an incredible combination of wit, grace and tenacity.

Our love and condolences go out to her family in Bethel Park, PA, her family in the Pittsburgh broadcasting community, and her many viewers, fans and friends throughout Western Pennsylvania.

To Yvonne’s fans, you can show your love by contributing to a cause close to her heart, the KDKA TV Turkey Fund.  More information about Yvonne and the fund can be found by clicking here (story about Yvonne and her charity have been taken down, link removed).