Up Close with Cathy Unruh brings the people who shape our community and their impactful stories to you.

Cathy Unruh grew up in Georgetown, Delaware and attended college in Pennsylvania. After a short stint teaching college English while a grad student at the University of Delaware, she pursued a career in television to fulfill her desire to be out in the “real world.” Ms. Unruh began her broadcast career as a reporter/anchor at WBOC in Salisbury, Maryland, and then moved to WHTM in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before coming to WTVT in Tampa in 1991. Ms. Unruh had planned to move on again but fell in love with Tampa Bay; she married in 1999, retired from commercial television and made her permanent home in the area.

Ms. Unruh now hosts “Up Close with Cathy Unruh” on WEDU. Besides WEDU, her community service includes City of Tampa Television, The University of Tampa, The Spring, The American Heart Association, World Partnerships, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, Florida Voices for Animals, and MEOW Now. Animal welfare is one of her chief passions; she is working toward the day when all humans realize that all sentient creatures deserve to be treated humanely. Ms. Unruh has written a novel that was released by the publisher in 2012. Entitled TAMING ME: Memoir of a Clever Island Cat, the book is literary fiction based on her work with feral cats.