“My career has morphed into two things,” longtime News4 reporter Pat Collins is fond of quipping. “I cover murders, and I measure snow.”

But Collins — who announced he will retire from News4 at the end of the year — has done so much more than that. And to the D.C. area, he is an institution, reports News4 in D.C.

According to News4m, Collins “tells the stories that will break your heart. He tells the stories that will crack you up. He tells the stories that will leave you in tears — of sorrow, or laughter. Many times, the entire newsroom has stopped to watch a Collins piece as it airs live, the normally bustling space fading into relative silence.

“A true D.C. native, Collins grew up on H Street NE — back “when H Street wasn’t cool,” he clarifies. He started in the newspaper business in his teens. By the time he graduated high school, he was editing three pages and had his own column in Washington’s Daily News.”

He has been with News4 for more than 35 years,

Collins has earned 10 Emmy awards, two Clarion awards, and a Chesapeake Associated Press Award for “Best Feature Reporter.”

More here.

PHOTO: News4