Matt Null, a CNN senior producer and a former Fox News producer, died on Monday while vacationing with friends in Barcelona. He was 34.

Null had been worked on CNN’s “Early Start” for more than three years. The morning show’s anchor, Christine Romans, shared the news with viewers on Wednesday.

“It is with a heavy heart that we report tragic news of one of our own this morning,” Romans said, holding back tears. A cause of death has not been revealed.

Romans described Null as an “exceptional producer” who was a “rising star here at CNN.”

“He is literally the voice in our head every morning. When terrible things happen around the world, he is the one who brings it to you with calm and fairness,” she added. “He is someone who really made a difference in the world through his job.”

Before joining the CNN team, he worked as a producer for Fox News Channel’s “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren,” beginning in in 2012.

Van Susteren also discussed Null on-air, saying the news of his death “stopped me in my tracks.”

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Null worked his way up the producing ranks of local TV news stations — at WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio; WFTS in Tampa; WSVN in Miami; and KRON in San Francisco — before transitioning to network news. He got his start in the industry as a reporter at KTVO Kirksville, Mo., after graduating from Truman State University.