Damon Weaver, who at age 11 interviewed former President Barack Obama, has died. He was 23.
The Floridian student reporter died May 1 of natural causes, his sister, Candace Hardy, told The Palm Beach Post on Thursday.
Weaver made history in August 2009 as the youngest person to have interviewed a sitting president, according to the outlet.
The landmark 10-minute on-screen interview focused namely on education, including questions about improving education without cuts and for students in low-income cities.
Weaver also asked about the criticism Obama was facing as president, bullying he might have faced in school, how young Americans could help improve the country, and the president’s well-known love of basketball.
“It was a one-in-a-lifetime experience,” Hardy told the outlet of the “life-changing” interview.
Weaver “was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent,” his sister told The Palm Beach Post. “Very outspoken, outgoing. He never said no to anybody. He was very helpful.”
The young man hoped to be a sports journalist with a focus on the National Football League and was majoring in communications at the Albany State University in Georgia, to which he’d earned a scholarship, said Hardy.
Weaver’s career may have been cut short, but it was no less impressive. He interviewed Joe Biden when he was a senator and running for vice president and Oprah Winfrey, as well as Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.
