Remembering WINK News chief photographer Ben Colwell, whose influential life was cut short

A special member of our WINK News team, chief photographer Ben Colwell, died on Wednesday, May 20.

His life was cut short at the age of 41 from health complications not COVID-19 related, but Ben certainly made an impact.

“He probably has no idea how many lives he’s touched,” his mother, Susan Colwell, said. “His life had a ripple effect.”

That ripple effect started on May 14th, 1979, when Susan Colwell and her husband, LeWayne, welcomed their fourth child, Benjamin John Colwell.

“He was just energetic,” Susan said of her son. “He used to pretend to be a newscaster. He’d have us sit down and he’d have everything set up, and pretend to do the news.”

Ben followed his passion for video journalism from New York to Arizona to Fort Myers.

“He was always trying to better himself,” LeWayne said. “We always loved watching his (video) stuff. He would email us things that were gonna be on WINK News.”

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