Sportscaster Cory Kessler is laid to rest in Atlanta

CORY RAY KESSLER, a native of Hollywood, Florida, who was raised in New Orleans, passed away in his Atlanta home on September 11, 2026. He was 60. 

CORY RAY KESSLER

Kessler was a New Orleans resident at an early age and attended Country Day School in Metairie from kindergarten through high school, where he was captain of the basketball team and selected by his classmates to give a graduation speech. He attended the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland and graduated with a degree in Communications.

Shortly after graduation, he was hired by CNN in Atlanta and then as a sportscaster on television stations in Lake Charles; Ft. Myers, FL, and Charlotte, N.C. He returned to Atlanta to work on air for CNN and Fox Sports South, where he hosted the popular show, “Countdown to Signing Day.” Kessler had called Atlanta home for the past 25 years.

He loved sports and sports reporting and successfully landed one-on-one interviews with sports basketball luminaries Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Deion Sanders among many others through the years. He chronicled his journey in a well-received book, “Sportscasting: A Journey Like No Other.”

As to football, Kessler was a loyal member of the ‘Who Dat Nation” and raised his offspring to love the New Orleans Saints as much as he did.

He is survived by his wife, Julie Bluestein Kessler; his two sons, Evan and Owens Kessler; his father Stan Kessler and stepmother Ellen; his mother, Janet Brown; his brother, Randy M. Kessler (Valerie); his brothers-in-law Kenneth (Karen), Michael (Juliet), and Eric (Allyson); his step-siblings Julie Lewin (Jon), Melissa Widen Holtz (Stan), Rachael Widen Tennant (Jim), Andy Brown, Tina Brown, and Dr. Dan Brown (Elvira); his in-laws, Jane and Joe Brown; and both sets of Florida grandparents: Sylvia and Milton Kessler of Ft. Lauderdale and Esther and Sam Miller of Orlando.

Kessler was a kind and caring individual, who maintained friendships from almost everyone he knew in his life. Even after moving away, he remained especially close to his New Orleans friends, college friends, his associates at CNN and others he met through his work.

His funeral was held on Mon., September 14 at 2:30 p.m. at Arlington Memorial Park in Atlanta, Georgia, Rabbi Peter Berg officiated. Minyan and shiva information is still pending.