Max Gomez, 72, longtime WCBS medical correspondent, dead

Max Gomez, the longtime medical correspondent for WCBS/2 and WNBC/4, died Saturday in New York. He was 72. Neither his immediate family nor the station disclosed the cause of death, but confirmed it followed a long illness diagnosed about five years ago. 

"Dr. Max," as he was popularly known, was not in fact a medical doctor but a Ph.D. in neuroscience. He had also been a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Rockefeller University in the late 1970s before he began his TV reporting career.

While a specialist, that hardly prevented him from reporting on a vast range of medical topics over a long career, from AIDS to COVID-19 — which, like many TV anchors, he covered from his home office. 

In an email sent to staffers Monday, Sarah Burke, Ch. 2 news director, said "Dr. Max simply has no equal when it comes to skill, care and compassion. His loss is felt deeply."

Cindy Hsu, anchor of the station's 9 a.m. broadcast, said in an interview Tuesday, "Every single person who knows him will have a story about how he helped them when they had a medical issue, whether for themselves, or a parent or grandparents." She said he never helped people "jump lines," but rather helped them to get the best care, or to understand complex care regimens. "On a personal note, when I went through depression and needed to go to a psychiatric hospital [in 2015], he was the one I called," she said. "We went over a long list of hospitals and helped me choose. It was a huge decision because I had never been through this before." 

One of Gomez's colleagues at Ch. 2 was Alena Galan, who had interned for him in 2019. As a child, Galan had been diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI — or MPS VI, a rare genetic syndrome — and Gomez "was the first [news]person to interview me and share my story," she said in an interview. Gomez continued to report on her condition over the years, she said, and "after he got sick, he didn't want anybody to know and I'm not sure anyone in the studio did know."

His death, she said, "is devastating because he was so special and he did make such an impact." 

Born in Havana, Gomez moved with his family to Miami. A Princeton graduate, he earned a Ph.D. from Wake Forest School of Medicine in 1978. A couple of years later, he joined WNEW/5 — now WNYW/5 — then left for Philadelphia's KYW. He returned to New York, and WNBC/4 in 1991. He joined Ch. 2 in 2007. 

Dan Forman, Gomez's news director at Ch. 4 and his managing editor at Ch. 2, said Tuesday that "I remember asking him once why he didn't continue doing what he had been doing before TV, as an academic and continuing his research. He said he might have helped one person or group of people, but by going on to the TV side, he was able to help thousands and tens of thousands of people." 

Gomez had a particularly celebrated run at Ch. 4 as anchor of an ongoing medical series called "Ultimate Risk," which would report on people with rare conditions like Galan, then follow them over a period of months or years as they sought treatment. Gomez also frequently reported for NBC News during his run there.

A close friend, Patricia Hall, who met Gomez while raising funds for New York pediatric hospitals, said he "was not a traditional doctor, but scientist, and because of that his expertise and his range of knowledge was vast. He also understood the community of doctors in New York City. I would love to know how many lives he saved over his career." 

Gomez is survived by a daughter, Katie Gomez, and son, Max Gomez IV.