Chuck Hollis, assignment desk editor was 76

From the way people are remembering him, Chuck Hollis sounds like he was a beloved and larger-than-life figure in the KCAL newsroom. His presence loomed even years into his retirement to Canyon Country. Hollis died this week at 76, after a stroke, friends say.

"He came from the Bill Stout and Pete Noyes generation of reporters," Channel 9 alum Karen Foshay Kolesnikow says via Facebook. "No bullshit, just get the story. He was the most admired of anyone at KCAL. Crews would have died for Chuck." A Facebook wall post calls Hollis the "coolest news cat in town."

"Even though he'd been gone from the newsroom for a number of years, I always half-expected for him to just show up for work one day and start doing his job again without missing a beat," CBS 2-KCAL photographer Bryan Frank writes at his blog. "He was legend long before I got to work news in Los Angeles."

A memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday, April 4 at 10 a.m. at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Photo of Hollis: Bryan Frank