John Cater had been a freelance reporter at WXIA, WGCL and WSB.  He died Tuesday; an unknown illness hospitalized him at Thanksgiving.  An infection developed.  He never shook it.

Talk about a life cut short.  Cater was 32.

I didn’t know Cater.  He made it into this site twice, once during his coverage of a Tea Party event; the other, for his coverage of the Botanical Garden accident.  Both references were mostly complimentary.

Amani Channel reports that Cater attended last spring’s NABJ conference in Tampa.  “Though I didn’t know him well, I’ll remember his wide smile, his positive outlook, and he was a true broadcast professional,” Channel writes in My Urban Report.

Last year Cater won an Emmy.  In a memo to her staff Tuesday, WXIA news director Ellen Crooke wrote:  “His joy and enthusiasm that night was wonderful to see.  His mother wanted us all to know because she said he loved working in this market and he was very proud of his time at 11Alive.”