Longtime Detroit sports media personality Jamie Samuelsen dies at 48

Jamie Samuelsen, a longtime voice on the Detroit sports media scene, died on Saturday after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. He was 48 years old.

Samuelsen was diagnosed with colon cancer 19 months ago but kept his condition private until last week.

He is survived by his wife, Christy McDonald, and three children, Caroline, 16; Josh, 14; and Catherine, 11.

Samuelsen spent nearly his entire professional career in the Detroit market, most recently on WXYT co-hosting the “Jamie and Stoney” morning show with Heather Park since 2016. Before that, Samuelsen spent time at WDFN, WRIF and WCSX on the radio, Fox 2 on television and wrote blog posts on Freep.com for over a decade.

One of Samuelsen's longtime cohorts on radio and television, Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski, announced Samuelsen's death on Twitter on Saturday night on behalf of the family. Wojnowski said Samuelsen was "surrounded by his wonderful family, and he went peacefully."

Samuelsen informed his listening audience about his diagnosis on Monday and spoke to the Free Press about his diagnosis, saying he kept it quiet to protect his children.

“Obviously, all of our lives were turned upside down when we found out, but we wanted to make their lives as normal as possible,” he said. “Plus, given the fact that I work in radio and my wife works in TV, I wanted to make sure it didn't affect their lives.

"The most emotional moments for me, throughout this entire thing, have been the reality of family,” Samuelsen said.

Samuelsen grew up in northern California and began his career in Chicago in the mid-1990s after graduating from Northwestern.