Veteran Houston anchorman Hemberger found dead

Veteran Houston television newscaster Alan Hemberger, an avid Boston Red Sox fan who cried, his former wife said, when his team won a shot at the World Series, died Sunday at his Cape Cod, Mass., home of an apparent heart attack. He was 65.

Jane Hemberger said he was found dead on his sofa, seated before a television set tuned to a cable sports channel.

"He cried when he heard the Red Sox would move on to the World Series," said Jane Hemberger, who maintained an amicable relationship with her ex-husband after their 2012 divorce. "I told him he didn't cry like that when our five kids were born."

Hemberger, a New Jersey native who spent much of his youth in the Boston area, was a fixture on Houston television news programs for approximately two decades. He joined KTRK Channel 13 in the late 1980s, developing a significant following as evening anchorman as he worked with broadcast veterans Dave Ward and Marvin Zindler.

"Alan was a quality journalist and a good family man," said KTRK News Director Dave Strickland. Hemberger's longtime co-anchor, Melanie Lawson, called him "a real gentleman."

In 2000, he joined Channel 39, holding assorted anchor spots until his 2010 retirement.

Prior to coming to Houston, Hemberger worked as a radio sportscaster in New England and at a number of television stations, including outlets in Amarillo and San Antonio. For a time in the 1980s, he was a Hollywood broadcast reporter for Entertainment Tonight.

Alan Hemberger joined KTRK Channel 13 in the late 1980s, and later delivered the news from the Channel 39 anchor desk from 2000 to 2010. (Handout photo) Alan Hemberger joined KTRK Channel 13 in the late 1980s, and later delivered the news from the Channel 39 anchor desk from 2000 to 2010. (Handout photo) Image 1 of / 57 Caption Close Veteran Houston anchorman Hemberger found dead 1 / 57 Back to Gallery

On his Linkedin Web page, Hemberger stated he had worked in television news for slightly more than 34 years. As his interests, he cited, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Peace. The Blues."

After leaving his last Houston television position, Jane Hemberger said, the broadcaster moved to California, where he hosted a blues radio program. Last year, she said, he moved to Cape Cod.

"It was his life-long dream to live on Cape Cod," she said. "He had spent summers there when he was a kid ... He was planning to come back to Houston at Thanksgiving to see his family again."

Hemberger is survived by a daughter, Corey Hemberger, of Kingwood; four sons, Christian Hemberger, of Dallas, and Ahren Hemberger, John Hemberger and Daniel Hemberger, all of Kingwood; and two brothers, Richard Hemberger, of San Antonio, and William Hemberger, of Pflugerville.

Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at St. Martha Catholic Church in Porter.