Former KDKA-TV medical editor, husband of Patrice King Brown, dies

Dr. Paul Nemiroff, former KDKA-TV medical editor and husband of retired KDKA-TV news anchor Patrice King Brown, died Aug. 10. He was 73.

A cause of death has not been determined. Nemiroff has lived with Myelodysplasia Syndrome (MDS), a blood cancer, since a 1999 diagnosis. KDKA reported on his MDS in 2014.

A Los Angeles native, Nemiroff was a surgeon who specialized in head and neck cancer and reconstructive surgery before becoming a medical reporter for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. He then relocated to Pittsburgh to be closer to family, joining KDKA in 2002. He left the station in 2009 a few years prior to King Brown’s retirement in 2011. The couple married in 2007 and relocated to Southern California after King Brown’s retirement.

“We became friends first for almost two years before he asked me out for coffee,” King Brown, 68, recalled Sunday evening. “He had amazing stories. He’d done amazing stuff in his life and he was a gentleman. He was brilliant and funny. I told him, ‘Nemiroff, smart is the new sexy,’ and he laughed.”

King Brown said Nemiroff graduated from high school early before enrolling in UCLA where he studied psychology. In his later years of college he worked summers as a smoke jumper in Alaska. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. With his parachuting skills he was recruited into the Army Ranger with the 101st Airborne Division.

Nemiroff received a master’s in organizational psychology from San Francisco University and a PhD in behavior science/psychology from Purdue University. He then earned his MD from UCLA Medical School and developed hyperbaric and wound care medical centers at Vanderbilt University.

“It’s amazing all that he did. He was driven to do this stuff and he was incredibly goal-oriented,” King Brown said. “The last thing he was doing in retirement on the days he felt OK was he decided he wanted to be a pilot, something he’d always wanted to do as a child. I think he’s never been happier than when he was in the air. And he learned about air patterns and weather patterns. I now know more about weather patterns than you ever want to know!”

Nemiroff will be remembered in a celebration of life Tuesday at 11 a.m. PT at Harbor Lawn-Mount Olive Memorial Mortuary & Memorial Park in Costa Mesa, Calif. Mourners are encouraged to plant a tree in Nemiroff’s memory.