LOS ANGELES — Longtime KCAL9 business reporter Alan Mendelson, best known for his “Best Buys” segments highlighting consumer deals on clothing, electronics and other items, which later became a standalone program, has died at age 70, according to relatives.
“With much sadness and a collective broken heart, our family is sad to announce that our brother, Alan Mendelson, passed away on Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas,” his brother Seth wrote on Facebook.
His daughter, Marisa Mendelson simply tweeted “My dad. Alan Mendelson. 04/07/1952-11/09/2022” followed by several family photos.
No cause of death was given.
Mendelson was a KCAL fixture for almost two decades, including much of the 90s, and was known there as the “money man.” In the early 2000s, he moved to Las Vegas and started a television production, marketing and public relations firm while hosting infomercials and other media segments. He also appeared as a newscaster in the films “Gentleman B” in 2000 and “False Colors” in 2011.
A founding member of the Economics News Broadcasters Association, Mendelson won Emmy, Janus and Golden Mic awards for his reporting.
“Alan was very smart, informative and knew everything about money —that’s why we called him the ‘money man,’” former colleague and CBSLA anchor Pat Harvey told the station. “He was a very warm gentleman that provided laughs to me while on the set … Gone too soon.”
Mendelson began his career as a roving reporter for a local Syracuse station and helped run the assignment desk for the “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” before moving on to a local station in Miami.
“He made a name for himself as the person who broke the news of the death of former New York Governor and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller” in 1979, his brother told KCAL/KCBS. “For some reason, Alan was sent to Ethiopia where he covered a civil war and was pinned down by enemy fire for several hours before friendly troops were able to get him and his crew to safety.”
In addition to his brother and daughter, Mendelson is survived by his son Jason; sisters Leslie and Betsy; and one grandson.