One of the Youngest Reporters who Interviewed Barack Obama dies

New York: Damon Lazar Weaver Jr. one of the youngest people who interviewed the sitting President Barack Obama, died at the age of 23. During the interview, he was just 11 years old.

Later, Weaver gained attention for scoring other high-profile interviews with celebrities such as Dwyane Wade and Oprah Winfrey.

Weaver's sister, Candace Hardy, confirmed the death, as she told WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida, that her brother had texted her while she was at work that he was in the hospital. She said that by the time she went to see him, he had already died.

According to the reports, Weaver conducted a sit-down interview with Obama in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in 2009. The then 11-year-old Weaver questioned him on topics like the Obama administration's efforts to improve education in lower-income areas such as Weaver's hometown of Pahokee and Florida. He also asked him about his basketball skills.

After the 11-year-old Weaver extended an invitation to come to visit him at Kathryn E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary School in South Florida, Obama told him that he did a great job at the interview.

Before Weaver's meeting with Obama, he gained much attention from an interview in 2008 with Joe Biden.

According to his funeral announcement, Damon Lazar Weaver Jr. was born on April 1, 1998. His sister said that he was "a light" and "the life of the party." Heaver graduated from high school with a full scholarship to Albany State University in Georgia. And, according to a post on his Instagram page, he graduated from the university in 2020.

"Everybody just couldn't wait to be around him. Family gatherings, they were always fun just because of his presence," Hardy said.

As per the sources, Weaver also covered Obama's inauguration for his school's television news program, interviewing attendees and celebrities including Winfrey and Samuel L. Jackson.

In an interview with The Associated Press before heading to Washington, Weaver highlighted what he enjoyed most about being a reporter.

"I liked seeing people on TV, so I thought that I could do that job one day. I like being a reporter because you get to learn a lot of things, you get to meet nice people and you get to travel a lot," he said.

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