Renowned journalist Chris Bath has tragically lost her dad after he passed away peacefully with his family by his side.
The sad news was confirmed by Bath’s husband Jim Wilson on his afternoon 2GB radio show.
The former Channel Seven sports reporter told listeners during his usual slot on Drive with Jim Wilson on Wednesday that it had been a ‘sad 24 hours’ for his family.
Wilson confirmed his father-in-law and Bath’s dad had battled the effects of a major stroke for 14 years, one that left him paralysed on one side, before he died on Tuesday.
Wilson said he was absent from the air on Tuesday because he had rushed to the bedside of his ‘beautiful, gravely ill’ father-in-law to say his final farewells.
His father-in-law, Donald Graham Bath, had had a tough 14 years after suffering a major stroke in 2009 and several more in the years following.
Sydney radio host Jim Wilson has confirmed his father-in-law Donald Bath, the father of his journalist wife Chris Bath, has sadly died this week following a 14-year battle with the effects of a major stroke in 2009 (pictured is Chris Bath with her father Don in 2012)
2GB radio host Jim Wilson (pictured with his newsreader wife Chris Bath) said his father-in-law had made the best of a terrible situation and that his cheeky grin could light up a room
‘Now I managed to spend some precious few hours with Don, as did the entire family, including his beautiful wife Maureen,’ Wilson said.
‘For my wife Chris, well her Dad meant so much to her and she reckons her tomboy traits all stem from watching Don in the workshop in the family home growing up.
‘Don made the best of a terrible situation, and his beaming face and cheeky grin lit up a room. And even last Monday when I went to visit him, he still managed to smile and give a trademark thumbs up.’
The broadcaster said his mother-in-law Maureen had been incredibly strong and had supported her husband right through to the end.
‘For those of you who have been carers for stroke survivors, or those with other debilitating conditions, it is unbelievably tough,’ he said.
‘It’s a sad time, but also a time to reflect and celebrate a great man who despite being confronted by a terrible and insidious condition, he made the most of his life and the cruel cards he was dealt.’
‘For my wife Chris, well her Dad meant so much to her and she reckons her tomboy traits all stem from watching Don in the workshop in the family home growing up’ Wilson told listeners on 2GB on Tuesday (pictured is Bath and Wilson, who have been married since 2012)
His broadcaster wife, who has presented for ABC Radio Sydney, Channel 7 and Channel 10, is yet to make a statement on her father’s passing.
In late 2019, Bath uploaded a photo of herself perched on her father’s knee.
‘When you party with your Dad like it’s 1999 in 2012 and he is totally excited to be photographed. Love you Dad,’ the newsreader captioned the sweet photo.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, she said her father had been working class and had quit school at 16 to work in construction.
His only brother, Lindsay, died in a horror scooter accident when Don was 18 and he had married her mother Maureen when they were both in their early 20s.
After her father suffered his second stroke in 2014, Bath vowed to campaign harder for stroke sufferers and their families through awareness programs.
After her father suffered his second stroke in 2014, Bath (pictured with cricketer Steve Smith) vowed to campaign harder for stroke sufferers and their families
She first revealed her father’s health struggles on Channel Seven’s program Sunday Night in November 2013 – about four years after Don had his first stroke.
The stroke had left him paralysed down one side and badly affected his speech, with the newsreader admitting she missed being able to go to her Dad for advice.
‘The reason why I’m doing this story and the reason I’m talking about what my family’s been through is to try and say to the government and to stroke survivors and their families – come on, pony up!’ she told the program in 2013.
Bath currently works as a freelance journalist while her husband of nearly 10 years Jim Wilson hosts Drive with Jim on 2GB radio.
The radio host is no stranger to tragedy, having lost his six-year-old son Sam to brain cancer in 2010 and his sister Rebecca who died of breast cancer at age 54 in 2016.
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