Award-winning journalist Dave Lopez reflects on life in new book
Award-winning journalist Dave Lopez writes about personal life, struggles, and his 48-year career in his new book.
DOWNEY - For 48 years, Dave Lopez told other peoples’ stories. Now, he’s telling his own.
Lopez’s new book “It’s a Great Life if You Don’t Weaken: Faith, Family, and 48 Years on Television” gives an introspective into the man behind the award-winning journalistic career, 43 years of which was with CBS2 and KCAL9.
“It’s a story about my life, I mean, I think I had an interesting upbringing,” said Lopez. “I’m the oldest of eight children. I have a very interesting father who was a very successful businessman.
“It takes [readers] on a journey of my life, really, and it interweaves with my 48 years on television; not too many guys spent 48 years on TV.”
Lopez, 74, had always wanted to write a book. He said he wanted his grandkids “to know what their grandpa did.”
He describes “It’s a Great Life if You Don’t Weaken” as “three books in one.”
“It’s the story about my background, what made me become Dave Lopez, my career, and then my personal life. I had some things happen to me in personal life: lost a wife, lost a mother to Alzheimer’s and my father who couldn’t cope with it, and I had a bout with cancer myself,” said Lopez. “I weave all of this into a story that - I probably went a lot more into my personal life than what some people would want to know – but it’s my book, I self-published it, and that’s what I wanted to tell.”
Lopez hopes readers find the story “interesting and inspirational.”
“Just a story that says I had a very well-rounded, very lucky gifted life,” said Lopez. “I covered a lot of stories, especially the [William Bonin] case…When you see someone on TV, you think ‘Oh man, he’s got it made, or this is glorified, blah blah blah, but no, there’s a lot to it. That’s what I hope [readers] take away.”
According to Lopez, the book really began to take shape shortly after he retired in 2020. Overall, it’s taken “a solid 18 months” to complete.
He said the writing process was “good therapy,” though acknowledged some of the difficulties of recounting particularly dark moments in his life.
“It was dramatic at times; nobody wants to relive when you couldn’t do anything to save your wife’s life, even though you thought you could,” said Lopez. “I’ve always been the kind of guy who though he could fix anything. In television, you really have to have that feeling of self-confidence. You can’t be shy, and you really have to be able to say ‘I can do this, I can do that. I can solve this.’ I couldn’t solve my wife’s illness, and to this day it bugs me. I keep saying ‘What did I miss?’
“That was hard to talk about. She had a 73-day very long trial in a hospital; [My wife would] get better, then got worse, get better, got worse. I devote a whole chapter to how agony that was… So yeah, it was tough, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to tell the story. I wanted people to know that life isn’t always easy.”
Still, Lopez quoted Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, saying that he “considers himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
“I’ve lived a very lucky and blessful life, and I just wanted people to know that as I wrote this book,” he said.
The book will be available April 17. It can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There is also an audiobook available.