Television journalist Jim Avila, whose real name was James Joseph Simon, died at his home in San Diego, California, on November 12 after a prolonged illness. He was 70, according to the New York Times.His brother, Tom Simon, announced the death and paid tribute to him via social media. Williston Trending Topics News Radio Live shared the message on Thursday.“Hello, this is Tom Simon. It is with sadness and great hope that I relate to you now, my brother, Jim Avila, died at his home in San Diego, California, earlier today. Dear Jim, see you on Resurrection Day!”The Facebook post was accompanied by an image of Jim Avila with former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2013. At the time, he was the White House reporter for ABC News.“Jim Avila, a renowned journalist whose career spanned local and national stages and who touched countless lives with his investigative reporting and thoughtful storytelling, died after a long illness,” the message continued.Besides Tom Simon, Jim Avila is survived by two other siblings, his sister Karie Simon and brother Jaie Avila. They lost their brother Christopher Simon in 2020.Other survivors include their mother, Eve Gallardo Avila-Simon, and Jim Avila’s three children, James/ Jamie, Jeannette/ Jenny, and Evan.All about Jim Avila’s siblingsJim Avila was born in Lombard, Illinois, in July 1956 to a family of journalists and was later raised in Los Angeles. His father, the late James Wesley Simon, was the Vice President of CBS News and Mutual Broadcasting. The talk radio/ broadcasting executive also contributed to shaping the media scenes in Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco back in the day.The Simon family owned the radio station KGOE in Thousand Oaks, California, where James was hugely involved. He died in 1995.Jim Avila’s deceased brother, Christopher Sean Simon, was a reporter who worked for KNX and KFWB in Los Angeles, as well as WCCO in Minneapolis. As a News Director, Chris worked at KEYZ Radio/ KEYZ 660AM and Coyote Radio (98.5) in Williston, North Dakota. He was the bureau chief for ABC News in Sarajevo during the Balkan War in the 1990s.When Christopher Simon was stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he began dating a woman named Lejla. Together, they welcomed two sons, Haris and Erol. He also had two more kids, Victoria and Aiden, from another relationship,Jim’s brother, who was a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, died from a brief illness at a hospital in Minot, North Dakota, in January 2020, at the age of 55.As for Thomas ‘Tom’ Simon, he previously worked at Fox News and CNN. At present, he is employed by Williston Trending Topics News in North Dakota. Jaie Avila is an Emmy-winning investigative reporter for News 4 and WOAI in San Antonio, Texas.Not much is known about their sister, Karie Simon, and their mother, Eve Gallardo Avila-Simon. However, Jim recalled taking his mother’s middle name to honor her Hispanic roots during a 2015 speech at St. Philip’s College.Jim Avila had a kidney transplant seven years agoJim Avila’s official cause of death has not been disclosed by his employers or his family. However, in April 2018, he underwent a transplant after an advanced kidney illness. At the time, his brother, Jaie Avila, donated one of his kidneys to Jim.Later that November, the ABC News correspondent told TV Newser/ Adweek that it took him some time to realize that his condition was “serious” until he became “very sick.”“I was just a week or so from being put in the hospice. So, I didn’t realize the gravity of what was going on so much until afterwards,” he stated.Jim Avila continued that it “really hit” him that a “healthy man” such as his brother made a sacrifice for his life. He mentioned that it was a “big deal” as Jaie had his own family, including a wife and three children.“And the surgery for me was also quite an ordeal. But overall, when it’s all said and done, of course, it was worth it. I have a future. I didn’t think I did, then,” he added.Avila was also “thankful” for being able to attend his son's and Nightline producer Evan’s New York wedding that fall. However, he told the publication that he required three more post-transplant procedures and had to live on anti-rejection medicines.“I’m not interested in things anymore. I’m interested in gathering experiences. I think that’s a major change in my philosophy,” Jim shared at the time.He concluded by saying that materialistic things no longer mattered to him. Instead, he was looking forward to spending the rest of his life traveling the world, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures, and spending more time with his loved ones.