Requiem for a heavyweight

Grant McOmie is on his greatest getaway.

McOmie, 73, passed away early Thursday after a brief but intense battle with “dire complications” arising from a recent medical condition, according to his family.

His loss is our loss, his journeys our sanctuaries, his wit and talent our great fortune.

Grant, a good friend, was not always a competitor for news in the region’s outdoor scene – thank God. (Although, truth be told, he did scoop me more than once.)

But while he was an avid hunter and angler, his signature production, “Grant’s Getaways,” dove into Oregon’s landscape far beyond the critters we kill and eat.

His range was everywhere outdoors – and often indoors where the outdoors became the focus of students and communities alike.

Grant’s affable, outgoing personality, curiosity and focus on people led to his uncanny staying power as the region’s premier television outdoor presence.

He inherited the TV baton from the late Doug LaMear, for years KGW’s major outdoor presence with “LaMear’s Outdoors,” who in turn filled a void left by the passing of the late Jim Conway (and if you remember him, welcome to the octogenarian+ club).

This baton now probably passes to Owin Hays of “GPS Outdoors,” who has amassed a substantial following of his own in a show focusing more on hunting and fishing.

                                                                                            Bill Monroe photo

                                                       McOmie on location below Bonneville Dam

Grant skillfully wove the threads of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest’s rich outdoors into six popular books, weaving a tapestry of attainable images for readers to easily discover for themselves. The volumes are available in most bookstores and online.

I suspect they’ll become collectors’ items now.

And unlike old soldiers who “fade, fade away,” outdoor communicators like LaMear, whom the station once tried to let go but relented after a public outcry and even my partner, Buzz Ramsey, who morphed from a Luhr Jensen orphan into an immensely popular Yakima Bait fixture, McOmie also rose from the ashes of a layoff when he left KATU-TV.

KGW eagerly snapped up him and his literary/videography entourage more than a dozen years ago and he was still at it right up to a few weeks ago when his family told the station he couldn’t produce any more Getaways segments for awhile.

I’m still not sure the station was even aware of the gravity of his condition or how close he was to the end.

But in an email to me Thursday, KGW president and general manager Greg Retsinas said McOmie “wasn’t just a talented journalist and storyteller; he was a trusted guide who made Oregon’s rivers, forests, and backroads feel like a shared backyard. (He) inspired countless families to get outside, explore new places, and care more deeply for this state we call home.

“He was a dear colleague to all of us at KGW. His spirit and stories will be dearly missed.”

                                                                                            Bill Monroe photo

                                           McOmie and videographer Jeff Kastner

McOmie’s videographer, partner and close friend Jeff Kastner, a key to shooting the “Getaways” televised repertoire, is on assignment in Japan and had to settle for a facetime farewell yesterday from across the shining sea.

The pair have scored a dozen television Emmys and numerous awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of America and have more from 2025 in the judges’ hands now. Winners will be announced over the next few months.

Joining his family at his side Wednesday morning, I was reminded how the success of so many of us who make our living out there somewhere — rests on the shoulders of the most important persons our lives – our spouses and families.

Grant’s wife, Chris, was a strong, calm and collected countenance at his side and Eric, one of three sons, hovered close by, adjusting pillows and making his dad as comfortable as possible.

McOmie once spent two weeks on assignments in Alaska when his three sons were young.

“When I got home I was met at the door by Chris, with two boys in diapers hanging on to her dress and a toddler on her hip,” he recalled for a story I wrote in 2024. “She said ‘maybe you could take us with you the next time.’”

That spawned an entire series about traveling Oregon in a camp trailer with children — what to do, where to go, what to see, how and what to cook; kind of camping in Oregon for dummies, as it were.

McOmie at the time was pragmatic about his future and retirement, but unsure of where and how it would happen.

“I realize I have fewer years ahead of me than behind and I know I’m supposed to have a plan, but I have no idea,” he said.

“When I call it quits, it’s just going to be done,” he added.

It should not have worked the other way.

EDITOR’S note: I had the great honor of fishing with Grant (and Buzz) a few times, here is a fun piece that Grant/Jeff produced fishing in the once great Young’s Bay Bubble:

Grant’s Getaways: The Kings Are In at Buoy 10

RIP our dear friend, Grant McOmie…