Longtime Mass. NPR Reporter Paquette Dead At 55

Longtime New England Public Radio reporter Bob Paquette has died of an apparent heart attack at age 55.

Paquette was the local host of National Public Radio's Morning Edition on WFCR-FM in Amherst and its sister AM station, WNNZ.

Officials at WFCR, where Paquette began working in 1991, said Paquette died either late Friday or early Saturday. An autopsy is being conducted to determine the exact cause and time of death.

WFCR chief executive Martin Miller said there are "no words to express" the "shock and grief" of Paquette's friends and colleagues.

Robert Holub, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where Paquette graduated in 1977, said Paquette was an outstanding journalist who will be "deeply missed."

Paquette is survived by his husband, Michael Packard.