Channel 9 remembers John Evans, longest-tenured member of the newsroom

CHARLOTTE — The longest-tenured member of the Channel 9 newsroom, photojournalist John Evans, died unexpectedly Monday.

Evans spent much of his time at Channel 9 working as the photographer in our South Carolina bureau alongside former reporter Greg Suskin, and then Tina Terry.

Evans, from behind his lens, helped bring you countless stories over 37 years as part of the Channel 9 team.

He worked side by side with Suskin for 20 years.

“I used to joke with him,” Suskin said. “I saw him more than I saw my wife and kids. I was with him 9-10 hours, five days a week for 20 years. Most of the time, just the two of us. driving to a story, working and editing together. John was just, he was like a mentor to me. He was like a big brother to me but more importantly, he was a godly man.”

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Evans was a hard worker with a calm and steady presence.

“You often hear people say that someone would have given you the shirt off their back and people say that a lot,” Suskin said. “I saw John Evans actually do that. On more than one occasion. We’d be out on a story. It would be very cold. If you saw someone just wearing a T-shirt, I saw him take a sweatshirt off and just hand it to that person.”

After Suskin moved on, Evans teamed up with Terry.

“He was the type of person who, when we went out on a story and if we interviewed someone who was hurting, John showed them immense compassion,” Terry said. “The person who we were interviewing, they knew John cared about him.”

Terry said Evans will hold a special place in her heart.

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“And I’m so happy I had the chance to work with him over these past eight months,” Terry said. “And I’ll never forget him.”

Those who knew John are honoring his memory in the social media tributes below:

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