BOSTON – Don Kent, one of the first and most popular TV weather forecasters in Boston, has died. He was 92.

Kent died early Tuesday at Franklin Regional Hospital in New Hampshire.

Kent joined WBZ-AM in 1951 and moved to WBZ-TV in 1955, becoming a trusted fixture on the airwaves for nearly three decades. He continued to broadcast on several New England radio stations after he retired from WBZ in 1983. He called it the best job in the world.

Kent’s folksy style and passion made him a favorite among viewers and listeners. His career encompassed many major weather events in New England, including the historic Blizzard of 1978, which paralyzed the region with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane force winds.

Kent called it the worst storm he’d ever seen in an interview on WBZ in March 2009.

He was not only trusted by legions of viewers, but an inspiration to an entire generation of Boston-area meteorologists.

WBZ meteorologist Barry Burbank credits Kent with inspiring and nurturing his TV career in the 1960s.

“In those days, there were no glitzy weather graphics,” Burbank said. “Don’s visuals only consisted of two blackboards and chalk, but what the visual lacked, he made up for with his style of delivery.”

Kent launched his on-air career in 1937, working for a radio station for no pay. He took a course on air mass analysis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1930s, but much of his knowledge was self-taught or learned during his time in the U.S. Coast Guard.