Dave Frankel (1957 – February 26, 2025) was an American television weatherman and news anchor in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

before leaving the air to become an attorney.

Early life and education

Frankel grew up in Monmouth County, New Jersey. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

and cum laude from

Villanova University School of Law The Charles Widger School of Law (known as Villanova Law) is the law school of Villanova University, a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was opened in 1953 and is approved by the American Bar Association (A ...

Broadcasting career

Frankel joined Philadelphia’s

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on City Avenue in t ...

6-ABC in 1984 as an investigative reporter, reporting on a variety of topics including dangerous seafood, Philadelphia trash collection and the lack of production of the sanitation crews, the perils of pesticides, the risks of tired truck drivers in a story called “Big Rigs, Big Risks”, a trip to Haiti to track down illegal dumping of Philadelphia’s trash, an exclusive jailhouse interview with cocaine empire dentist Larry Lavin, and an expose about Philadelphia’s mob family called Disorganized Crime. In 1989, he became the morning weatherman, co-hosting the morning newscast alongside Monica Malpass and later Rick Williams. The newscast became the most viewed local morning news show in the country. Dave was a prominent and popular personality at the station. On February 26, 2025, 6abc aired
segment on Dave Frankel’s career at Action News.
In 1997 he moved onto

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...

CBS-3 where he anchored the 6pm news with the late

Siani Lee Siani Lee (born Margaret Englett; October 8, 1962 – October 28, 2001) was a Korean American news anchor and reporter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She previously worked in several other cities including Savannah, Georgia, Baltimore, and W ...

. Dave was also a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

reporter for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Frankel received two Emmy Awards: one for a report on a bionic breakthrough enabling a deaf child to hear and another for a five-part series on balding titled “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.”

Legal career

In 2003, at age 46, Frankel enrolled at Villanova Law School. After a stint as a practicing entertainment lawyer with Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia representing broadcast journalists, Frankel co-founded the law firm of Frankel & Kershenbaum to represent children with special needs and their families in special education law, civil rights, and personal injury matters.

Community involvement

Frankel had a longstanding relationship with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, proudly hosting its Original Lemonade Stand annually and helping raise significant funds for pediatric cancer research. He also served as an auctioneer for various charitable events and hosted Radnor Township’s Memorial Day Parade.

Personal life and death

Frankel was married to Marjie (née Schlessinger). They had three children—Bailey, Scott, and Charlie— and six grandchildren. He died from complications of

primary progressive aphasia In neurology, primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a type of neurological syndrome in which language capabilities slowly and progressively become impaired. As with other types of aphasia, the symptoms that accompany PPA depend on what parts of ...

, a form of

frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), also called frontotemporal degeneration disease or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of the brain's frontal lobe, frontal and tempor ...

, on February 26, 2025, at the age of 67.

References

External links

Dave Frankel's Facebook Page

Dave Frankel's LinkedIn Page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Dave 1957 births 2025 deaths Deaths from primary progressive aphasia Dartmouth College alumni Villanova University School of Law alumni American television journalists Television anchors from Philadelphia American television weather presenters American lawyers Jewish American journalists American male journalists 21st-century American Jews Deaths from dementia in Pennsylvania