UPDATED 7:04 P. M.
PEORIA, Ill. – A local community leader has passed away.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood confirms Lesley Matuszak, 66, was found unresponsive in her Moss Avenue home Thursday afternoon. She was pronounced dead just after 1:00 p.m.
Matuszak had been president and CEO of public television station WTVP since 2019, and was head of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Peoria before that.
According to a news release from WTVP when Matuszak was hired in May of 2019, she also was a Co-Founder of Greater Peoria Honor Flight, and involved with a number of local organizations, ranging from Align Peoria, to Heart of Illinois United Way.
Matuszak led WTVP through a number of changes, including the acquisition of Peoria Magazine, and an increase in locally-produced programming.
Harwood says foul play was not suspected. In a news release, he said he announced the death “with a heavy heart.”
Julie Sanders, Director of Marketing & Community Relations at WTVP, tells WMBD Radio News everyone at the station is “shocked and heartbroken.”
