Matt Napolitano, Fox News audio and sports reporter, dead at 33
Matt Napolitano, an audio producer and reporter at Fox News, died on Dec. 23. He was 33 years old.
Napolitano had battled an autoimmune disease for nearly 20 years and died from an infection, according to a social media post from his husband, Ricky Whitcomb.
“With a heavy heart I have to share that my husband Matt Napolitano passed away yesterday morning,” Whitcomb wrote on Christmas Eve. “He loved his job, and he loved bringing the news to your radios and televisions. An honest journalist who truly cared about facts.”
Napolitano joined Fox in 2015 as a writer for the SiriusXM channel Fox News Headlines 24/7. He briefly left the network but then returned as an anchor and reporter on different shows.
During his time at Fox, Napolitano worked on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto Coast to Coast” and produced content for the Fox News Edge service that provides stories to local Fox outlets across the country.
“Matt did everything from anchoring to writing and producing for our audio platforms and loved being able to work in the journalism field that he trained for his entire life,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott wrote in a memo to employees announcing his death.
When he wasn’t working, Napolitano was known as a huge game show fan. He was on “Wheel of Fortune” in 2016 and “Jeopardy!” in 2020.
“I hope I did the hometown proud, ’cause it wasn’t easy up there,” Napolitano, a resident of Franklin Square, told the Long Island Herald in June 2020.
He was also a New York Jets fan, something Whitcomb mentioned after the team’s thrilling 30-28 victory on Sunday.
“You can thank him for the last-minute Jets win today,” he wrote.
