AccuWeather remembers the late John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel

Founder of The Weather Channel and longtime San Diego weatherman, John Coleman passed away on Jan. 20, 2018, at the age of 83.

According to KUSI News, Coleman passed away Saturday night at his home in Las Vegas surrounded by family.

“John Coleman was not only a great television weather presenter, but a visionary in bringing together different components to create the first television weather channel. While he was a competitor when at The Weather Channel, I hold a great deal of respect for his ingenuity in what he created. He never quite benefited financially from The Weather Channel, as he was forced to sell it at distressed prices in what I always considered to be one of the greatest injustices that ever occurred in the weather business. To John’s credit, he bounced back to become a popular television meteorologist in San Diego for many years," AccuWeather Founder, President and Chairman Dr. Joel N. Myers said.

Born in Texas, he began his television career in Illinois.

Coleman started his career in 1953 at WCIA in Champaign, Illinois, doing the early evening weather forecast while he was a student at University of Illinois.

Coleman was the first weatherman on ABC’s Good Morning America and founded The Weather Channel in 1980.

He spent two decades as a weatherman for KUSI News in San Diego before retiring in 2014 after more than 60 years in broadcasting.

Coleman was honored by the American Meteorological Society as Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year in 1983.

“Despite never getting full credit for what he initially created his contributions to better weather presentations will endure in the annals of meteorological history," Myers said.

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