4800 E Indian School Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85018
SALAZAR JR., JOSE ISAAC
October 6, 1959 – March 1, 2022
Jose Isaac Salazar, Jr. passed away peacefully in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 1, 2022 after a valiant eight-year battle with cancer. Isaac, as he was called by the many people who loved him, was known for his unmatched brand of humor, his kindness, and his knack for knowing just the right thing to say and when.
Born in Plainview, Texas, he grew up in Corpus Christi after traveling the country with his family working in produce fields. Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps becoming a skilled carpenter. Through the process of being featured in the local newspaper for his brilliant woodwork, Isaac discovered journalism. He landed a job as a videographer for a lawyer who fought the Ford Motor Company, and won, in a fuel tank-related lawsuit. During that landmark case, Isaac developed his life-long passion for capturing images to tell stories.
Isaac went to work in television news and served at each of the three TV stations in Corpus Christi before moving to Arizona in the late ’80s. Isaac worked for more than a decade at KVOA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, where he blossomed into a multi-Emmy award-winning photojournalist and Assignment Manager. He was also honored with an Edward R. Murrow award and many Associated Press awards. Isaac had a reputation for listening to people and relaying stories, as well as mentoring many journalists. He traveled throughout the country, and internationally to Mexico and Italy, for television news assignments and made friends everywhere he went. He alone created a dynamic promo video for the University of Arizona that aired on national television during athletic events. As an acclaimed photojournalist, Isaac accepted his last job at KNXV-TV in Phoenix, the nation’s fifth largest television news market. He went on to cover the Academy Awards in California for the ABC affiliate, during which he wore a tuxedo and called his sister to tell her “George Clooney smelled amazing.”
It was here in Phoenix Isaac met the love of his life, Reyna Zamudio, a business owner and native of Mexico, who loved Isaac with all her heart. They married in 2017 and honeymooned in Sedona. They loved to dance everywhere they went. Isaac made breakfast for Reyna and packed lunches for her to take to work every morning. Their love is memorialized with wedding photos and a special wooden bench Isaac carved to commemorate his love for Reyna.
Together they faced Isaac’s thymus cancer diagnosis in 2014. He had open heart surgery in 2015 and underwent countless treatments. He “rang the bell” four times over the years exceeding all medical expectations. He encouraged fellow patients with inspiring words and handed out “Don’t Tell Me the Odds” Star Wars cards at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gilbert throughout the month of February, a short time before his passing.
Isaac loved everything “Star Wars.” He could quote any of the movies, masterfully handle a light saber and was proud of his extensive collection of related memorabilia. He wore Star Wars shirts most every day and to each of his treatments and was often inspired by the trilogy’s theme song his radiologists would play especially for him.
Isaac loved a good glass of Macallan scotch, but he loved his family and friends more. He adored his parents and sister, visiting them often, even during the early days of the pandemic. It was said “if you knew Isaac, you were a lucky member of a large fraternity.” He’s been called “an original,” and “an amazing human being,” which he was. His friends and colleagues tell countless Isaac stories of how he supported them, counseled them, and made them laugh. He was a dear, sweet, and funny friend who is missed by all who knew him.
He passed at Hospice of the Valley, in the arms of his wife Reyna and only sibling Diana and, appropriately, he was wearing a Star Wars shirt.
After enduring a years’ long fight, in the end, he declined rapidly and was unable to follow through with his intention to party with friends and family in Tucson where he could hear for himself what people would say about him and the impact he had on those he loved. Safe to say he would have been showered with love, funny stories, and much gratitude for the joy he brought to so many. As Isaac loved to say, “always remember, never forget.”
Isaac is survived by his wife Reyna, her daughter Diana Flores Zamudio and son Daniel Flores Zamudio, as well as his mother Maria Berta Salazar and father Jose Isaac Salazar, Sr. and sister Diana Salazar Vargas (Ino Vargas) and many nieces and nephews.
Please join us in honoring Isaac with your stories and photos on Saturday, March 12, 2022 from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. at Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home, 4800 E. Indian School Rd., Phoenix. The Celebration of Life will be live streamed at https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyMurphyFH/live/
Our deepest condolences to the Salazar family. We send our love and continually have you all in our prayers asking Jehovah to be with you during this time. May you find comfort through him to give you the strength needed. I wish we all could be there with you all however we are all here for you. We love you all. Diana please hug welo and wela for me.
My condolences and Prayers to you and the family! May he Rest In Peace.
Love ,
Ernest Salazar Jr.
My deepest condolences to the Salazar, Vargas and Zamudio family. I spent more time with Issac growing up than as an adult. Even though, he was best man at my wedding. He was a kind, loyal cousin to me even at a very young age. He loved to listen to the Beatles at that time and I remember sitting with him and listening to their music in a Toyota Corolla that I believe he held on to for some time. I will remember him with warm memories. My love and prayers are with you all as you face this great loss.
I had the honor of working with Isaac in Tucson at KVOA.
He was a one-of-a-kind friend.. with a joke, a hug, a smile for anyone who needed it.
He will be missed!
Mr. &Mrs. Salazar you gave the world a beautiful person… Reyna you captured his heart and Diana you were lucky to grow up with him.
My prayers and love are with you…..
Martha Vazquez
Isaac shared a smile, laughter, and joy with everyone he met. His love for us all made this world wonderful. His family and friends were all the same and for that and more, we will never forget Isaac.
Sal Q.
I am in Spain now, but I had the pleasure of working, traveling and being mentored by this legend during my time at KVOA-TV in Tucson, AZ.
He always cared about everything big and small and no detail went unnoticed.
His heart was kind, pure and so sensitive, and his sense of humor and quick wit helped you get through moments that sometimes felt impossible.
I mean it when I say I am truly lucky to have known him and worked alongside him.
Thank you for sharing him with the world!
To quote Monsters, Inc. “I’ll miss you forever, Kitty and love you always!” ❌⭕️, Boo ❤️
Sending so much love and hugs to all of you!!!
I had the pleasure of working with Isaac at KVOA. Your obit is right: He always knew the right thing to say and when. I feel fortunate that I got to experience Isaac as a friend when I needed one. I’m sure everyone he met felt like he was a friend.
I enjoyed getting random texts or messages via social media over the years with his always-humorous attitude. I’m gonna miss that. He really was one of a kind.
I hope it helps the family to know that Isaac left a lot of joy in his wake as he went through life. Because he did. And damn cancer for taking him from us too soon.
My dearest Reyna. We had so much in common as both of our husbands were failing at the same time. My husband died a year ago March 13. You were so strong through it all, much stronger than I was. My deepest condolences to you and your family. After reading the above obituary I wished we had known each other many years prior to this. Our husbands would’ve been great friends together and I know we would have to. He was a very accomplished man and I know you loved each other very much. I know what you’re going through and if you ever want to talk or go out and have a bite to eat please call me. We share the same sorrow. Love and prayers are coming your way. Thank you so much for letting me know. God bless you all.
There’s been a disturbance in the force.
There are so many ways Jose Isaac Salazar Junior has seeped into my life over the past many years. He’s been a friend, mentor, merchant of hilarity. I always felt better after spending time with him – even those times I was frustrated by him.
I smile thinking about that time something made him upset at the house Kathy Clark and I shared.
He insisted on running 3 miles to his own house by the station. Kathy and I ran after him, looked for him in the bushes. But once he made his mind up…
I will always remember what he taught me in my first standup as an intern. “Don’t do this… (hand gesture)” and “turn off you mic” if you go to the bathroom.
I laugh when I remember that he brought a big bottle of liquor to Ajo when he came rescue Rogelio and I after we had two flat tires and were stranded in the desert. Someone has the video of what happened that night. I’m not sure if I want to see it.
He always threw great parties. BrewStar (the refrigerator for the keg) was full and we’d all drink and laugh for hours.
I remember salmon and stove top at the big house – exotic cooking for us. I remember the tenors (and still have my glass.)
When I have sushi I always think of him. He introduced many of us to Pancho – the Korean sushi chef whose Spanish was often better than his English. After the hot towels were thrown our way we ate a lot of good fish and drank a lot of sake had laughed a lot.
He introduced Rogelio and me to absinthe – not all of my Isaac memories are liquor-related. Some are liquor-forgotten. Anyway, he was so pleased to have found the delicate vintage glass dripper and spoon for the sugar cube. He was so enthusiastic to show how the old cool Parisians would have partaken. I felt cool. I’m pretty sure I didn’t look cool. Or Parisian.
More recently I remember the joy in his face when he married Reyna – and the same in her gaze toward him. I think she was one of the reasons he fought so hard for so many years. And he was always so proud of Diana and the person she has become.
Era un amigo, siempre dispuesto a ayudar, dar consejos y, lo más importante, hacernos reír.
Era fuerte… y obstinado y creo que por eso pudo luchar durante tanto tiempo. Espero que estés tranquilo sabiendo que eres amado, por aquellos que podrían estar aquí y muchos que no pudieron.
I will always remember to always remember and never forget to look at it this way.
May the force be with you mi amigo.
Isaac was the best. He was always there when I needed him, even just back in 2020 when my husband had open heart surgery like he had. He was one of kind.. we can only wish to be like him. Rest in peace Friend.
Isaac and I met in 1968 when we were both 9 years old. He lived on Oakland Street and I lived on Milwaukee Street in Plainview Texas. We lived about a mile apart from each other. As soon as we met we instantly became best friends primarily because we both had the same type of sense of humor and the fact that we were both Jr’s.
Isaac’s family would go up north to work when school let out. In the spring of 69 he and his family went to Minnesota to work. Isaac told me about the camp they lived in along with several other families from Texas, they all worked in the asparagus fields. Isaac told me about a particular girl that he had met that he liked. He talked about what she looked like and how many of the guys at the camp liked her but she seemed to favor him. The more he talked about her the more it sounded like a girl that I met in my fifth grade class that I had a crush on. Betty Deleon was in my fifth grade class and because I was too bashful I did not talk to her much even though she made every effort to get to know me. Her family was also migrant workers and they too had left before the school year was up. The description that Isaac was giving me of this girl that he met in Minnesota sounded very much like the girl I knew from school.
I asked him what her name was and he said “Betty Deleon “. He did not even know that she was from Plainview and that she lived some four blocks from my house. We could not believe that we were talking about the same person. That hardly made us rivals, if anything it brought us closer as friends. First chance I got I told Betty, she too did not know that Isaac lived in Plainview. It all made for a good laugh and a great coincident.
My condolence to Reyna and your family.
Thought you might appreciate this story.
He is very much missed.
Manuel Jr.
When Isaac and I were in High School, Isaac worked at a local printing/newspaper business. The local businesses had a promotion going on that when you purchased more than $25 of merchandise from their business you would get a voucher for a free hamburger from a hamburger joint that was across the street from the High School. Guess who had the contract for printing those vouchers? Non other than the company that my best friend Isaac worked for. So everyday, every single day as long as the promotion lasted he and I would go across the street to the local hamburger joint and have not one but two hamburgers a piece. Good memories.
Thanks Isaac.