The heart attack that killed veteran KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin was due to coronary artery disease, the Los Angeles County medical examiner said this week.
The 64-year-old journalist was hospitalized on May 10 for stomach pain, his former station reported. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room that morning. At the time, a source familiar with the situation told The Times that he went into cardiac arrest at his West Valley home and was taken to the hospital.
This week's coroner's report confirms his death was natural and lists the cause as ischemic heart disease (narrowing of the arteries) and coronary artery disease.
“Simply put, Sam was KTLA,” anchor Frank Buckley said in announcing Rubin’s death on air a few hours later. “The newsroom is in tears right now.”
Rubin was born on Feb. 16, 1960, in San Diego, went to high school in Los Angeles and attended Occidental College. He was a core member of “KTLA 5 Morning News,” a pioneering experiment in morning broadcasting. Before the program’s launch in 1991, local news stations typically focused on evening newscasts, believing that morning viewers were more likely to watch national programs like NBC’s “The Today Show” or ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Once Rubin joined the then-new show three months later, she quickly gained a reputation for her engaging interviews and warm personality. According to co-host Carlos Amezcua, Rubin was the show’s “connective tissue” and helped give it the authentic Los Angeles feel it needed.
“What you can always say about Sam is that he helped ‘KTLA Morning News’ connect with Los Angeles as a native Angeleno who loved Los Angeles and knew the city better than anyone on the set,” Amezcua said. “We had LA in our call letters, and Sam always said we knew LA and LA knew us.”
Soon, the morning news show became such a hit that KTTV Channel 11 started one as well, starting a morning show ratings battle.
Out of camera range, Rubin's life revolved around her family, Amezcua said.
“I have five children and they all knew Sam and his family, and Sam was very generous with his time,” Amezcua said. “He was a good family man and they loved him. We all loved him.”
Throughout her career, Rubin won several local Emmy Awards and a Golden Mike Award. She also received honors from the Southern California Broadcasters Assn., the Los Angeles Press Club and the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and wrote biographies about former first lady Jacqueline Onassis and actress Mia Farrow.
The day before his death, he was still on air, when he interviewed actress Jane Seymour. The next day, he called in sick.
