Former CBS4 Journalist Michele Gillen Has Passed Away

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Former CBS4 News journalist Michele Gillen has died.

Gillen was a passionate journalist devoted to helping those who could not help themselves.

In 2006, her series "The Forgotten Floor" highlighted the need to help mentally ill inmates at the Miami-Dade County jail.

Seven years later, she returned to the jail to see what had changed.

In 2012, Gillen and a team of CBS4 News journalists told the stories of Holocaust survivors who returned to Auschwitz to share their stories in hopes no one would ever forget the atrocities they lived through.

But perhaps the thing she was most proud of was the "Adopt-A-Bear" program she founded.

The bears were given to disadvantaged children in the juvenile court system, who faced difficult moments in their lives.

Gillen won 39 Emmy awards.