Joel Siegel, ABC’s “Good Morning America” film critic was one of a very few film critics I admired and whose reviews I would consider worthy of my attention. Today I was saddened to learn that Joel died last night after his lengthy battle against colon cancer.

He began giving his more upbeat reviews on the morning show 26-years ago and was famous for finding at least one shining moment in even the worst of the films he would critique. Joel’s attitude was that there is no such thing as a completely horrid movie, just a group of horrid moments strung together, with an occasional brief moment of sunshine.

For those of us who try and who sometime pretend to do reviews as well as Joel, this is a sad day indeed and his witty quips and infectious outlook will be sorely missed.

His colleagues at ABC are already feeling the vacant hole left open with his death. “We’ll miss him,” ABC News President David Westin said in a public statement. “He was a brilliant reviewer and a great reporter. But much more, he was our dear friend and colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joel’s family.”

Joel Siegel was a real trooper in the fight for a cure to all forms of cancer and was not one to sit and mull in his own self-pity, but was a fighter in the trenches. He wasn’t afraid to go out and rattle the complacent Washington bureaucrats from their lethargic stupor. He lobbied strongly for those suffering from the myriad forms of cancer and, along with friend and actor Gene Wilder, helped to create, in memory of comedianne Gilda Radner (and Gene’s late wife), the Gilda Club. This is a not-for-profit organization that helps to give support on all levels to those suffering from cancer and their family members as well.

Joel Siegel, dead at 63.