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Ed Ansin, Owner Of WHDH-TV Channel 7 In Boston, Dies At 84

BOSTON (CBS) - Ed Ansin, the billionaire from Worcester, who owned WHDH-TV has died. He was 84 years old.

Ansin founded Sunbeam Television and was the force behind both Channel 7 and WLVI-TV in Boston and WSVN-TV in Miami.

He was active in running all of the stations until his death.

Earlier this year, he told the Boston Globe, "I want to die with my boots on."

"Besides his family, Ed loved nothing more than owning and operating his television stations. We are all so fortunate to have worked for a man who truly cared about his employees and the industry," Paul Magnes, executive vice president of Sunbeam Television, said in a statement.

"We will all miss Ed tremendously, but WSVN, WHDH, WLVI and Sunbeam Real Estate are all in good hands. We will have a seamless transition to the next generation of Ansin leadership with sons Andy and James, who will work closely with me."

"Boy did he love local TV," Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday.

"I mean Ed Ansin was one of those guys who just thought local TV was close to the people, was close to the communities that it served. You could literally almost touch and feel the folks that you were trying to serve on a day in and day out basis."

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