EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — His life was bigger than a chapter in a history book. Leon Metz died Sunday morning at 90 after a brief bout with COVID-19, a family member confirms. He had recently battled Alzheimer’s disease.
Metz became an El Paso legend by hosting The Leon Metz Show on KTSM and writing dozens of books about the American Southwest. He was awarded the Saddleman’s Award from the Western Writers of America in 1985 and was the 2010 winner of the Ruth Lester Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Historial Commission.
In recent years, Metz struggled with Alzheimer’s disease and lived at the Ambrosio Guillen Veterans Home, where his wife, Cheryl, would visit him often. Metz is preceded in death by a daughter and survived by his wife, three children, and six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
