The affable TV news reporter and anchor Kirk Matthews, who spent more than 30 years on the air here, died Monday at his Honolulu home with his wife, Linda Coble, by his side.

Matthews retired from KHON2 in 2014 after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He was 69.

Kent Baker, former KHON2 news director and general manager, who hired Matthews in 1987, said, “He was a consummate television professional, smart about TV as anyone I know, good reporter, worked hard, and he was a good anchor as well. You could give Kirk just about any story, and he could come back with a good story, a fair story and interesting story.

“He was just a very professional television newsman, and besides, one of the nicest guys you could find,” he said by telephone from Moville, Iowa.

In addition to colleagues, “viewers liked him a lot,” Baker said. “People really did like him. He was always warm and friendly toward his co-anchors, and the audience seemed to appreciate him and liked him.”

In December his friends held a large fundraiser party for Matthews which many of his old TV pals attended.

Leslie Wilcox, who co-emceed the event, worked at KGMB and co-anchored for years the KHON2 morning news with Matthews. “Kirk was one of those malihini who put down deep roots and flourished in Hawaii, alongside the love of his life, Linda Coble,” she said by email. “They both grew up in the same part of Oregon, had the same birthday and would finish each other’s sentences.

“Kirk and I were anchoring together live, when the planes struck buildings on 9-11. As always, Kirk ad-libbed flawlessly, with careful attention to known facts and with dignity,” she said. “At other, lighter times, his dry wit caught me off-guard on live TV and we had a hard time containing ourselves. Viewers would call and when we answered, all we heard was laughing.”

She often teased that he was “relentlessly positive, regardless of circumstances, and that turned out to be true even as he faced stage 4 cancer,” she said.

Coble, who worked at KGMB with anchorman Bob Sevey, shared Monday how she met Matthews in 1981 when she went to the Portland, Ore., CBS affiliate to become its first female anchor.

She said, “He’s in the parking lot, he’s got a pipe in his mouth and says, ‘Hi, are you the girl from Hawaii?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ He says, ‘I want you to know every broad upstairs hates your guts because you got their job. And you’re taking my job.’ That’s how we met.”

Two years later the two returned as a couple to Hawaii. Coble introduced Matthews to Sevey, who was like a father to her but who didn’t trust him at first.

“Here I bring this dude back from Oregon, and Sevey is freaking out,” she said. “Sevey said, ‘Uh-uh. I don’t trust you. Don’t hurt my girl.’”

She said Don Ho put him on his lap and said, “Kirk, if you ever hurt this girl, I’m going to kill you.”

“Those two were my dads and they made Kirk welcome,” she said.

The couple married in 1984.

“The newsroom was always cheerful when Kirk was in it,” recalls Pamela Young. “He had a way of making people feel comfortable no matter what the events of the day. He always had a smile and a laugh. … Gary (Sprinkle) and I will remember him for being able to lighten people’s spirits and having that ability to give joy to people.”

Matthews attended the Oregon College of Education, where he majored in English and minored in political science. In Oregon he got his start in radio.

Coble said his body has been donated to the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Services are pending.

Matthews is also survived by daughters Erin Matthews and Jenna Murphy.