ITV newsreader Tom Bradby paid tribute to his friend and colleague Emily Morgan as she was buried following her death from lung cancer.
The mother-of-two, who passed away aged 45 on May 26, was described by Mr Bradby as having a “joy” as he addressed the other guests at the Gloucestershire service.
Ms Morgan’s funeral service was held on Wednesday at the same church where she married her husband Robert.
When she was buried, Mr. Bradby spoke of the “epic amounts of laughter” his friend had brought into his life.
As ITV health and science editor, Ms Morgan was instrumental in covering the Covid-19 pandemic for the broadcaster.
Emily Morgan, the health and science editor at ITV News, was buried in a private funeral service on Wednesday following her death from lung cancer in late May
When he addressed the funeral guests yesterday, Subway reports Mr Bradby said: ‘Nothing gave me so much pleasure – few things in my working life have given me so much pleasure – as watching [Emily] fall in love with Rob and have two amazing daughters that she talked about and adored constantly.
“So finally, what I can really say is a version of what I said in my tribute on News at Ten to Emily, goodbye my friend, we knew you and we really loved you.”
Following Ms Morgan’s death at the end of May, ITV News paid tribute to their former health and science editor with an extensive montage of excerpts from her reports during her 23 years working for ITN.
It showed she was bravely reporting from hospitals at the height of the pandemic, as Mr Bradby related.
Tom Bradby (pictured), who had been a friend of Mrs Morgan’s, spoke of the joy and laughter she had brought to his life
“If the sheer amount of time she spent in Covid wards exposed her to some level of risk, she was always clear on why she was doing it,” he said, followed by a clip where Morgan described it as her “duty” to reporting ‘firsthand, on the ground’.
Bradby said she covered health, politics and more for more than a decade, describing her as a reporter with “style, charisma, compassion and basic humanity.”
Bradby further recalled that Morgan started behind the scenes as a producer.
He worked closely with her every day for five years at Westminster and traveled the world following successive prime ministers, including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
He continued, “She was brilliant at her job, it’s true, but she was also incredibly funny and completely irreverent.
“I once persuaded our editor to send us across Canada by train with cameraman Rob Turner to make a film about how the Canadians are catching up.
“Emily used to refer to this later, in front of senior management, as our vacation in Canada with Rob,” he said.
The broadcaster also spoke about his colleague’s family life.
He said, “We saw her fall in love, get married and have two wonderful daughters.
“She must have had her faults, we all have, but we didn’t see them.”
He then ended his tribute with a personal—and touching—feeling: “We’re devastated because we really loved her…and if you had known her, you would have.”
Chris Ship, royal editor for ITV News, added to the tributes, saying his colleague and friend had been ‘full of humanity’.
“She was such a beautiful person and a dear friend,” he said. As a health editor, Emily was fearless in reporting Covid to the nation in 2020.
He added: ‘Talented, kind, full of humanity. She was 45.’