Jon Burnett, a fixture of Pittsburgh news for nearly 40 years, died Thursday, Feb. 20, of suspected complications due to illness.

His longtime broadcast home, KDKA-TV, broke the news Thursday afternoon that Burnett had died due to suspected complications from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to his neurologist.

Burnett began a career at KDKA-TV in 1982 as co-host of Evening Magazine. A few years later, he took on cohosting duties for Pittsburgh 2Day before moving into handling duties as a weather forecaster, a role he had held before starting with KDKA. He would go on to serve in that capacity for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2019.

After retirement, Burnett was first diagnosed with suspected chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

CTE is a progressive brain disease caused by repeated head injury that can only be diagnosed for certain through an autopsy of the brain.

Prior to his career in news, Burnett had played football beginning at the age of 10, including as a defensive end at the University of Tennessee.

Burnett worked to raise awareness of the disease throughout his retirement.

Last year, he decided to participate in the National Sports Brain Bank through the University of Pittsburgh. The program aims to better understand contact sports-related brain injuries through observation of former athletes and study of their brain after death.