Beloved FOX 26 Anchor José Griñán Dies at 72: Houston Remembers TV Icon

Former FOX 26 Houston morning anchor José Griñán—whose warmth, baritone delivery and three-decade run on Houston television made him one of the city’s most familiar news voices—died on 26 May 2025. He was 72. Longtime face of “Wake Up! Houston” Griñán joined FOX 26 (KRIV) in 1993, becoming the station’s first male morning-show anchor. Viewers waking up to “Wake Up! Houston” relied on his steady presence to guide them through hurricanes, city-council shake-ups, Astros playoff runs and feel-good community profiles. His on-air chemistry with co-anchors such as Natalie Bomke and Rita Garcia helped the broadcast dominate early-morning ratings throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. Award-winning storyteller Before Houston, the Tampa native and U.S. Army documentary cinematographer built a résumé that spanned El Paso, Tampa, Miami, New York and Dallas. Along the way he won regional Emmys for coverage of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege in Waco and for a post-9/11 series that followed Houston first-responders deployed to Ground Zero. Colleagues remember him as a “one-take” field reporter—able to nail a live toss, then coach a rookie photographer on framing seconds before airtime. Champion of Houston nonprofits Off camera, Griñán donated hundreds of emcee hours to the National Kidney Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Special Olympics Texas. He served on the boards of Houston READ Commission, Dive Pirates Foundation and Keep Houston Beautiful, leveraging his visibility to raise six-figure gala totals long after the cameras stopped rolling. Cuban-American trailblazer Born 24 July 1952 to Cuban immigrants, Griñán became one of the few Afro-Latino main anchors in a top-10 market during the early 1990s—a breakthrough that earned him dual membership in the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Local media professors often cited his career in diversity case-studies at the University of Houston and Texas Southern University. Tributes pour in • Houston Mayor John Whitmire: “José Griñán reminded us every morning that journalism can be tough-minded and big-hearted at the same time.” • Former co-anchor Sally MacDonald: “He’d finish a three-hour shift, then spend 20 minutes coaching an intern on script-writing basics. That generosity shaped half our newsroom.” • Astros legend Craig Biggio, whose Sunshine Kids charity events Griñán hosted annually, called the anchor “a clubhouse in human form—he made everybody around him feel like family.” What happens next FOX 26 confirmed plans for an on-air celebration of life during Wednesday’s 6 a.m. hour, while the Griñán family announced a public visitation Friday at Brookside Funeral Home, Champions. In lieu of flowers, mourners can donate to the Dive Pirates Foundation, which funds adaptive-scuba trips for injured veterans—a cause the anchor promoted after a 2017 segment changed a viewer’s life. Bottom line For millions of early-rising Houstonians, José Griñán wasn’t just the first voice of the workday; he was a 6 a.m. reminder that local news still belongs to the neighborhood. His signature sign-off—“Make it a great day, Houston”—now echoes as both a farewell and a challenge.