Who was Dax Tejera? ABC’s ‘This Week’ producer passes away at 37

Dax Tejera, the executive producer for ABC's current affairs show This Week, recently passed away at the age of 37. The news of his announcement was made by ABC News president Kim Godwin, who revealed that Tejera died on December 23 due to a heart attack.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the memo sent to the network staff read:

"It’s with a heavy heart and great sadness that we share that our friend and colleague, Dax Tejera passed away suddenly of a heart attack last night. As the executive producer of 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos' Dax’s energy, passion and love for that show, ABC News, and you, shined every Sunday morning. That same love was extended to his precious girls."

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Dax Tejera was promoted to the position of Executive Producer in 2020

As per his LinkedIn profile, Tejera earned his bachelor's degree in history from Dartmouth College. After this, he attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism from 2016 to 2017.

Dax Tejera started working at ABC News in 2017 in the position of a senior producer in Washington, D.C. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was promoted to the position of Executive Producer for This Week With George Stephanopoulos in February 2020, just before the pandemic.

Media Moves reports that the news was announced by Godwin via an internal message to the news staff, which read:

“Dax assumed leadership of ‘This Week’ one week before the team had to adjust its production to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming into this role during an extremely uncertain time, his vision has helped 'This Week' climb to new heights – the program is now #1 in Adults 25-54 for the first time in six years.”

During his tenure on the network, Tejera covered several significant events, ranging from then-President Donald Trump’s meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jeong-Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the January 6 Capitol riots.

Tejera began working in the media field in August 2007 when he joined NBC Universal Media as a News Associate. He was associated with the network for five years and served in different roles such as Researcher, Overnight Assignment Editor, and Producer.

In January 2013, he joined Fusion Media Network as an Executive Producer of AMERICA with Jorge Ramos. He was also the EP of the television special Soul of the Nation Presents: Corazón de América – Celebrating Hispanic Culture.

In 2016, he produced the television special documentary Hate Rising, which was helmed by Catherine Tambini. The 50-minute film is based on hate groups and the 2016 presidential elections.

As for the accolades, Tejera bagged two Emmy nominations for his work on This Week With George Stephanopoulos. In addition, he was nominated for an Emmy award for executive producing Now with Alex Wagner.

Dax Tejera left behind his wife, Veronica, and two daughters.