General Hospital has lost one of its oldest crew members, Donna Messina. She was a makeup artist who had been working with General Hospital since 1982. Her death was confirmed after her co-workers took to social media to break the news.

Donna Messina died at age 59

Donna Messina Armogida was born on July 25, 1959. She passed away December 6, 2018, at age 59. She was in California in her last days. The cause of her death has not been disclosed.

Actor Maurice Benard, who portrays Sonny Corinthos on GH, was the first one to break the news. He shared a candid picture of him with his late friend and wrote a heart-touching message on the caption. He wrote, “Sometimes you meet someone in life you just connect with and then unfortunately life just takes that person away. And no matter how much your heart breaks you want to remember the good times.” He added, “My best friend my sister Donna used 2 hate taking pictures. I used to have to grab her and hold her. And we would and laugh and laugh. I will never forget this memory and I will never forget what you meant in my life.”  

Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) commented on Maurice’s Twitter post as “Donna welcomed me and treated me like a long lost Italian family member from day 1. Always supportive always smiling. Heart. Broken. Rest easy beautiful Donna.”

Meanwhile, GH executive producer Frank Valentini took to Twitter to share an obituary of Donna. He wrote, “Donna Messina (Department Head, #GH Makeup & Hair) joined the @GeneralHospital family on 8/26/1982.” He seemed inconsolable as he continued to write “To say her presence will be missed is an understatement. She was an incredibly warm, witty and all around great gal. Our thoughts go out to her loved ones.”

Kristina Wagner (Felicia Scorpio) shared an old picture of them and wrote, “Donna Messina Armogida was my dear friend since the day I met her. Rest in peace.”

Other GH stars who paid tribute to their “GH MOM” were Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos), Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis), Wally Kurth (Ned Ashton), Genie Francis (Laura Spencer), and Jon Lindstrom (Ryan/Kevin), to name a few.

Donna was a treasure who had helped her team garner twelve Daytime Emmy nominations. On her journey to becoming the head of her department, she and her team had taken home six Daytime Emmy Awards.

Donna had also worked as a makeup artist and hair stylist on ABC’s comedy show America’s Funniest Home Videos.