Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Longtime Las Vegas TV reporter Tom Hawley dies at age 60

Tom Hawley, a longtime traffic and news reporter in Las Vegas for KSNV-TV, has died after taking a leave due to pancreatic cancer, the station reported Friday. He was 60.

Hawley was widely known in Las Vegas as “Chopper Tom" due his reports from the station's helicopter.

“Tom Hawley has taken his final flight to heaven after a brave battle with pancreatic cancer at age 60. He was our friend. He was your friend," the station said in an online obituary.

Hawley had an extensive collection of his “Video Vault” reports on southern Nevada history, and before his death prepared to turn over thousands of files to special collections of University of Nevada, Las Vegas, his alma mater, KSNV said.

Hawley was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and his family moved to the city of the same name in Nevada when Hawley was a boy.

Hawley was an avid hiker and a musician, playing contrabass in the Henderson Symphony and in clubs, KSNV said.

The station reported Aug, 30 that Hawley was taking a leave of absence for treatment of his recently diagnosed cancer.

Information on survivors and services wasn't immediately available.