By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally Monday, January 25, 2016
A veteran Weather Channel digital meteorologist died in a Midtown car crash Sunday.
According to our ajc.com story earlier today, Nick Wiltgen drove his automobile at a high speed into the Colony Square parking garage and entered the W Hotel Midtown. He died at the scene. (UPDATE, Tuesday, January 26: It was ruled a suicide.)
The Atlanta-based Weather Channel houses more than 200 meteorologists at headquarters off I-75 and I-285.
The Weather Channel released this note to its employees:
It is with a heavy heart that we have to share some very sad news - we have lost a treasured member of The Weather Channel family. Nick Wiltgen, senior digital meteorologist and integral member of our content team, died last night in a car accident.
Nick was part of The Weather Channel family for more than 15 years. He joined Weather as a senior radio broadcast meteorologist in October 2001, where he stayed for almost 11 years, delivering on-air forecasts for our radio affiliates. He then moved to the digital side in May 2012, producing and delivering a wide range of weather- and nature-related content for our digital platforms. He was promoted to senior digital meteorologist in December 2014, where he led and supervised the digital met team. He was also a familiar face on air, appearing on The Weather Channel from time to time to discuss a story featured in a digital package.
At The Weather Channel, there are a lot of people who love weather. And Nick was certainly one of those, but Nick really loved this job because he cared about people. No one took the mission of keeping people safe from big storms more to heart than Nick. At all hours of the night and day, he would track weather in as many as eight languages. He would work around the clock to make sure we had the latest and most accurate updates to every event. And he would fight tooth and nail to make sure we did everything we could to explain the dangers of bad weather to our viewers.
Millions read his work every week. And were better for it. He was the beating heart of our digital weather team. And he will be deeply missed.
Nick was not only a dedicated, passionate member of our family, his Casey Kasem long-distance dedications, his love for '90s pop music and encyclopedic knowledge of Nebraska – and Japan – always made the digital team laugh. He never would admit it, but we knew he spent much of his free time learning languages. He could translate international weather bulletins without Google Translate. In short, he loved his job and made us better.
Many of you knew him well, and no doubt share our shock and sadness. As something like this can be extremely difficult to process, grief counselors will be available in Atlanta on the 2nd floor in the DCT/DVT Conference room from 1:30 - 5:30 p.m. today and from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. The Weather Channel Employee Assistance Program is also available to all our employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 877.622.4327 should you wish to speak with someone.
We will be sure to share details of Nick's memorial once they are available. In the meantime, please keep Nick's family in your thoughts and prayers.
Cameron, Neil and Patty
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