Aimee Nicole Sachs

Aimee Nicole Sachs, one of Florida’s most diverse and accomplished native young journalists, died on May 31st in Tallahassee after tragically suffering two strokes in less than two weeks. Aimee, a most beloved daughter, sister, dear friend to many, and source of lifetime positive energy, was only 38. Aimee was known and loved by many for her talent, intellect, kindness, humor, and her love of sports, music, family, friends, and animals. She was born prematurely on November 10, 1984 in Miami Beach – at such low birthweight that she spent weeks in the hospital’s infant intensive care unit, where she acquired a toughness and independence that guided much of her impactful life. Parents, Ron Sachs and Ellen Gandel Sachs, eventually were able to bring her home to join big sister Samantha, a nearly two-year-old toddler, and to start a lifetime friendship. Little sister Julie arrived in 1988 and so began the life saga of the Sachs Sisters. The family moved to Tallahassee in 1990 and it became the adopted hometown that Aimee grew to love by her deep involvement in school, recreation, sports, lots of extracurriculars, and forging friendships that would last a lifetime. Though she was always petite and short, she had a giant capacity for competing in everything she did. She developed a passion for playing softball and following Major League Baseball, which would become her not-very-guilty pleasure nearly every day of every baseball season. She grew up with the Marlins and came to cheer for the Rays – but her baseball heart belonged to the Atlanta Braves. In elementary school, Aimee’s gifted writing and ease of public speaking earned her first place prizes in her classroom, school and countywide in the respected 4-H Tropicana Speech Contest. Her speech was titled “Being Small” and it made a strong case for an end of mistreatment and name-calling of short people – like “Small Fry,” “Shorty,” etc. Aimee earned laughter and applause when she pounded the podium with a clenched fist and exclaimed: “We short people do protest!” And, when she went on to the state competition in Orlando at the tender age of 10, she scored 2nd place statewide (her family believes she actually won). Later, at Leon High School, Aimee loved being in the steel drum band and also was active throughout her childhood in Tallahassee’s Young Actors Theater. When she spent her sophomore year at Tallahassee Community College, she won a physically demanding and starring role as Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.” Aimee chose to pursue a career in journalism and honed her skills at the University of Florida, where she earned a 2007 degree in Telecommunications. Though she had natural charisma and on-camera experience and talent, she gravitated more toward print journalism in an early career that included stints covering sports for the Tallahassee Democrat, Lakeland Ledger, Bradenton Herald. Throughout her career, Aimee loved working for MLB.com, which represented an ongoing dream come true. Her love of baseball included an encyclopedic knowledge that dazzled most others by her command of stats, names, history, and detail. When she moved to Atlanta in 2015 to work for six years on staff for Courthouse News Service, she still covered and reported on Braves games whenever she could for MLB.com. She loved the gig so much, it’s possible she might have paid them just to be in the press box doing her favorite professional thing. In 2021, Aimee moved back home to her beloved Tallahassee to cover Florida’s state government for The Florida Channel and then was a contractor helping to cover Florida’s 2022 primaries for Florida Politics. Aimee was a patient at HCA Florida Capital Hospital since May 20th, when she was first having severe symptoms of discomfort that later became a mild stroke. While recovering from that, a week later, on Sunday, May 28th, she suffered a powerful second stroke that shockingly and completely debilitated her body’s physical capabilities. She was kept sedated and ventilated for two difficult days. When awakened on May 30th, her father presented Aimee with the hard facts about her condition – that she would never walk, talk, or be able to care for herself in a bleak status known as “locked in.” At that point, Aimee was able to communicate with her family only by blinking her eyes. She bravely chose not to be trapped in her body’s prison – and also chose to donate her vital organs to help others live. When she passed on the afternoon of May 31, she was in a hospital OR, with her father, and big sister Samantha, at her side, after spending the prior 24 hours surrounded by all family and friends expressing their love and appreciation for her. Samantha and Ron were with her when she took her last breath – and then the surgery teams recovered Aimee’s organs to help provide or improve others’ lives. The LifeQuest organization reported that Aimee’s organs were successfully transplanted into giving life to three people, a selfless gift by Aimee that is part of her considerable legacy. Aimee’s personal and emphatic decisions to take control of her life path represent the greatest courage her family has ever witnessed. Her choice to let her life give life to others by sharing her vital organs extends her life beyond her time with us in this world. Aimee was preceded in death by her mother, Ellen Gandel Sachs; grandparents Bella and Manny Gandel; and Frank and Hope Gray; Uncle, Richard Sachs. She is survived by her father, Ron (Gay Webster-Sachs); adoring sisters, Samantha Jane Sachs (Nick Cronk); Julie Anne Sachs (Pope Hunter); aunts Jill Stone and Laurie Samuels (Allan), Suzanne Shapiro (Leonard); Stephanie Sachs; many loving cousins, extended family, a world of adoring friends, and her beloved loyal dog, Lucy. To honor Aimee’s twin passions of journalism and sports, the family has established the “Aimee Sachs Memorial Scholarship for Sports Journalism” at her alma mater, the University of Florida College of Journalism. The family requests friends consider a gift to help endow that scholarship by this link: https://ufgive.to/AimeeSachs The family is holding a memorial service for Aimee on Tuesday, June 13th, at 11am, at Temple Israel in Tallahassee, 2215 Mahan Drive. In her youth, that’s the place Aimee had her consecration, bat mitzvah and confirmation. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Young Fulford Funeral Home/Jackie Fulford and Skip Young. Aimee Nicole Sachs put a lot of energy and life into her brief 38 years – and put a lot of joyful light into the lives of her family, friends, and spheres of involvement. She will always be loved, remembered, and missed.

Aimee Nicole Sachs

November 10, 1984 - May 31, 2023