Risher worked at WFAA for nearly 35 years, mostly out of the station’s Fort Worth bureau.
DALLAS — Evans Risher, a beloved longtime WFAA photojournalist, has died at 68, his family announced.
Risher, who retired from WFAA in 2017, worked nearly 35 years at the station’s bureau in Fort Worth, his hometown. Risher joined WFAA in 1982 and was part of the station’s first-ever National Press Photographers Association Station of the Year award in the early 1980s.
At WFAA, Risher was a talented photojournalist who served the North Texas community for decades. But more than that, his colleagues have said, he was a truly kind soul — a devoted family man, a man of deep faith and a trusted coworker to all who knew him.
“Evans Risher was a kind soul and always answered the call when we needed him,” WFAA Executive News Director Leslie McCardel said. “There were also many times we didn’t call, but he ran to the scene anyways because he knew we needed the help. He was someone who coached me and helped me grow under the gentle and dedicated spirit that was Evans. He gave so much of his life to serving the community and we will miss him deeply.”
John McCaa, the longtime WFAA anchor who was also a Fort Worth bureau chief, called Risher one of the “few angels among us.”
“Evans Risher fits that description in EVERY way,” McCaa wrote. “He was a kind, generous, and gentle man about whom absolutely no one had a bad thing to say. We are… I AM, a better man having known him. Few people openly carried and LIVED their faith like Evans. Everyone who knew him could see and feel that. Evans earned his wings in heaven long before his passing. He is gone from us now, but he has left the world a better place for having been in it.”
Longtime WFAA photojournalist Arnold Payne was friends with Risher for more than 40 years.
“Ours was a bond rooted in mutual respect, shared passions, and a deep trust that only time can build,” Payne said. “When the opportunity arose years ago, I proudly recommended Evans for his position as a television videographer. I knew his calm presence, natural eye, and thoughtful heart would be an asset to any newsroom—and he exceeded every expectation.”
Payne said Risher “never chased the spotlight” but his work always stood out.
“He lifted others, mentored with kindness, and made those around him better simply by being himself,” Payne said. “Our friendship spanned decades, but it still doesn’t feel like enough time. I will miss him deeply.”
Barbara Griffith, who also worked with Risher as the Fort Worth bureau chief, remembered how Risher could light up a room.
“I keep thinking of the expressiveness of his face—his gorgeous smile,” recalls Barbara Griffith, WFAA’s former Fort Worth Bureau Chief. “I remember the knitted brow when he was skeptical, and the way he could raise one eyebrow to convey a VARIETY of emotions.”
Risher’s legacy wasn’t just in his work, said Yolanda Walker Schufford, a former WFAA reporter who worked with Risher.
“He loved people—fully, faithfully, and with such grace. I could always count on him to be there,” she said. “Evans was more than a coworker, he was family. And, he invited me into his family when mine was 1,400 miles away. I felt right at home.”
Jim Douglas, a WFAA reporter who worked with Risher for years, remembered Risher’s comforting ability to bring levity to a situation, even in a job that often lacks it.
“When Evans retired nearly 10 years ago, I toasted him in the newsroom for playing the vital role of comic relief in what was all too often a tragic play,” Douglas said. “His humor could be a blessing or a deadline distraction, but his joy was a soothing balm when I thought I couldn’t face another grieving parent.”
Risher grew up in Fort Worth and graduated from Polytechnic High School, where he played basketball. His bond with his hometown was evident throughout his career.
Former WFAA reporter Karin Kelly recalled the trust she had in Risher, who “knew the lay of the land” in Fort Worth, as well as the city’s people and civic leaders.
“He took his job seriously as a reporter’s partner,” Kelly said. “Working alongside Evans Risher, a reporter had confidence that together, they could turn out exactly what was needed in a particular news event.”
Former WFAA reporter Lauren Zakalik, who also worked with Risher in Fort Worth, called him a “Fort Worth legend and icon.” Zakalik had a nickname for Risher: “The Homecoming King of Poly High School.”
“Wherever we went, people knew him, and as a new reporter in Cowtown, I just loved seeing and knowing the city through his experienced eyes,” Zakalik said. “For the longest time, a photo of Evans as a high school basketball player for the Poly Parrots was my phone background. I just idolized him and thought he was such a true original.”
Zakalik recalled covering floods, tornadoes, court cases and police chases with Risher, from North Texas to Oklahoma. During one particular rain-soaked storm season in 2015, Zakalik remembered running out of dry socks. Later that afternoon, while she worked to finish a story, Risher let her know that he had hung out her wet clothes to dry.
“What a tender, thoughtful soul he was, picking up my soiled socks to give me a break while I was on deadline,” Zakalik said. “I cannot explain the friendship we had – it was unconditional. We came from different generations and backgrounds, but we were connected by journalism, music, food, humor and so much more.”
Zakalik last spoke to Risher seven months ago, when her father died.
“And today,” she said, “I feel as though I lost another dad.”
