Watch: Life Star Segment That Earned Denise D'Ascenzo An Emmy

BRANFORD, CT — After 31 years at the controls, in May of 2016, pilot Richard Magner "Rocky 1" flew his last shift for the Life Star program. The Vietnam War Cobra helicopter pilot was celebrated for his heroism and his decades of service.

But Magner had become known throughout Connecticut and beyond when Channel 3 anchor Denise D'Ascenzo flew with the chopper pilot and shared his story in a 2014 segment for WFSB, a story that won her an Emmy Award.

On Wednesday, a Life Star helicopter flew over the station in Hartford to honor D'Ascenzo, who tragically and shockingly died at just 61 on Saturday Dec. 7.

Her family has said she died from a likely massive heart attack in her Branford home.

The TV news station announced her death on Facebook Saturday night.

"There are no words that can begin to summarize this loss. Please keep her family in your prayers at this time," the news station posted noting her death was "sudden and unexpected."

"The grief we are all feeling is immeasurable," the report reads. "We are devastated for her husband and daughter who were her whole life. There are no words that could begin to summarize this loss for our WFSB family."

D'Ascenzo's on-air co-anchor for 25 years, Dennis House, shared the news with viewers in an emotional statement: "On a personal note she was my sister, my tv wife, my best friend here and my co-anchor for 25 years."

In on-air tributes, national journalists Gayle King of CBS News and Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe, remembered their former colleague. The governor, members of Congress, colleagues, friends and thousands of viewers have shared condolences and memories of the journalist called a "legend."

D'Ascenzo was a longtime, respected journalist. When just a girl, she created her own newspaper. According to her biography, she is an 11-time Emmy winner and was the longest-serving news anchor at a single television station in Connecticut.

She began at WFSB-TV in 1986. She covered local and national news including the 1988 Republican National Convention, the U.S. visit of Pope John Paul the II, the crash of United flight 232 and the arrest of the Washington, DC sniper. She's interviewed Paul Newman, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett and Oprah Winfrey. Her passion, her bio reads, was health and medical reporting: "She has taken viewers inside operating rooms, cardiac catheterization labs, neonatal intensive care units, as well as onboard Life Star, the critical care helicopter service. Denise has long been a leading voice across Connecticut in raising greater awareness of such conditions as breast cancer, heart disease, obesity and disease prevention."

She's been honored with two Edward R. Murrow awards, seven Associated Press awards, and a national Gabriel Award. In 2013, Denise was elected to the Silver Circle, a prestigious honor bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for significant contributions to broadcasting. Two years later, she became the first woman to be inducted into the Connecticut Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. Denise was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Quinnipiac University.

She has also been recognized for her work with a number of charities including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Mary's Place and the Channel 3 Kids Camp.

Born in Washington, DC and grew up in suburban Rockville, Maryland, at 12, she launched the first newspaper at her grammar school. She went on to become editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper and the first person to receive a scholarship from the American Newspaper Women's Club to attend a summer journalism program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

She worked in St. Louis as a reporter and talk show host at KSDK-TV. But the city that launched her career was Syracuse, New York. She landed her first television job at WIXT-TV in Syracuse, doing the nightly weather forecast while she finished her senior year at Syracuse University. Upon graduating Magna Cum Laude with dual degrees in broadcast journalism and political science, Denise was hired full time as a reporter and weathercaster.

She left her post as anchor of the news at WJKW in Cleveland to marry Wayne Cooke and move to Connecticut. They are parents of daughter Kathryn.