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# Jeff Clabaugh, WTOP business reporter, dies at 63
- URL: https://capitolcommunicator.com/jeff-clabaugh-wtop-business-reporter-dies-at-63/
- Published: 2025-09-20T16:57:40.000Z
- Updated: 2025-09-22T15:46:20.000Z
- Author: Capitol Communicator
- Tags: People, Media, #wp-upper-left-sponsored, #Import 2026-10-08 18:55

**WTOP business reporter Jeff Clabaugh, whose steady-paced voice conversationally delivered money news to the D.C. region for three decades,** died at 63 following a yearlong battle with cancer, reports [WTOP](https://wtop.com/inside-wtop/2025/09/business-reporter-jeff-clabaugh-dies-at-63-after-delivering-dc-money-news-on-wtop-for-30-years/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com). The WTOP post states the following:

WTOP’s Director of News and Programming **Julia Ziegler** wrote an email to the staff to announce Clabaugh’s passing.

“Jeff Clabaugh made WTOP’s Business Reports what they are today,” Ziegler wrote. “His work ethic was incredible. And his voice was so smooth. He was one of the best storytellers in the WTOP newsroom.”

His professional journalism career started in Omaha, Nebraska, where he covered commodities markets for then-juggernaut radio station WOW. His reporting took him everywhere from USA Today Sky Radio to Radio Netherlands in Holland.

Clabaugh has been heard on WTOP since the 1990s. He started as a news anchor at WTOP before taking a job at the Washington Business Journal. He worked for the Washington Business Journal for decades, which included delivering on-air reports for WTOP.

In January 2016, Clabaugh was officially hired as WTOP’s in-house business reporter.

“This was really special to him,” Ziegler wrote in her email to WTOP staff, announcing Clabaugh’s passing.

“He even created ‘Jeff Clabaugh Day’ — bringing in lunch for the newsroom each year to celebrate his career at WTOP but more to say thank you to everyone else for everything you do on a daily basis.”

In the WTOP newsroom, Clabaugh was known for his dedication to his craft and his talent for money news.

“Jeff had the kind of voice and writing style that was conversational yet informative. He was warm,” WTOP General Manager **Joel Oxley** said. “He was smart.”

He could turn otherwise mundane news into punchy headlines and relatable storytelling.

“When Jeff was on, ready to present his money or business reports, you would literally make that motion to turn the volume up because you knew whatever he was going to say on there was going to be different, off beat, but yet, everyone could relate to the story,” WTOP reporter **Steve Dresner** said.

“He was able to pick out those money stories that people really cared about, and he would talk about them in a way that made it easy to understand, even really complicated stock or business stories that were out there,” WTOP anchor and reporter **Kyle Cooper** said.

“Jeff had the incredible ability to break down the complexities of the business world and tell us how it impacted our daily lives,” Ziegler said. “He made it matter.”

Clabaugh enjoyed visiting his second home on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was known for getting to the Virgin Islands and not leaving his slice of paradise for the entire vacation. In fact, he reported some of his business updates from his home in St. John, which he called the “WTOP Caribbean Bureau”.

(Clabaugh’s passing follows the [January loss](https://www.insideradio.com/people%5Fmoves/dimitri-sotis/article%5F0a801edc-dcbb-11ef-8dd4-3343b0cc81bb.html?ref=capitolcommunicator.com) of WTOP anchor **Dimitri Sotis**, another newsroom veteran. “To lose a titan like Jeff the same year we lose the titan Dimitri Sotis is devastating,” Ziegler said. “These two men were two of the best journalists I’ve ever worked with.”)

PHOTO: Clabaugh at the “WTOP Caribbean Bureau”, courtesy of Russ Rader