Syria - Twice-Pulitzer-winning NYT correspondent Anthony Shadid dead in Syria at 43, Feb 2012

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A major loss. One of the great journalists of the era.

At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies (New York Times)
Anthony Shadid, a gifted newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack, on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in eastern Syria. Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer who was with Mr. Shadid, carried his body across the border to Turkey.

Mr. Shadid, 43, had been reporting inside Syria for a week, gathering information on the Free Syrian Army and other armed elements of the resistance to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose military forces have been engaged in a harsh repression of the political opposition in a conflict that is now nearly a year old.
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The exact circumstances of Mr. Shadid’s death and his precise location inside Syria when it happened were not immediately clear.

But Mr. Hicks said that Mr. Shadid, who had asthma and had carried medication with him, began to show symptoms as both of them were preparing to leave Syria on Thursday, and the symptoms escalated into what became a fatal attack.
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The death of Mr. Shadid, an American of Lebanese descent who had a wife and two children, abruptly ended one of the most storied careers in modern American journalism. Fluent in Arabic, with a gifted eye for detail and contextual writing, Mr. Shadid captured dimensions of life in the Middle East that many others failed to see.
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much more at the link above
 
Terrible loss.

Sincere condolences to his family, friends, associates, co-workers, and all others who knew him.

R.I.P.

From the article linked in the OP:

Mr. Shadid also had a penchant for elegiac prose. In the opening of a new book, “House of Stone,” to be published next month, he described what he had witnessed in Lebanon after Israeli air assaults in the summer of 2006:

“Some suffering cannot be covered in words,” he wrote. “This had become my daily fare as reporter in the Middle East documenting war, its survivors and fatalities, and the many who seem a little of both. In the Lebanese town of Qana, where Israeli bombs caught their victims in the midst of a morning’s work, we saw the dead standing, sitting, looking around. The village, its voices and stories, plates and bowls, letters and words, its history, had been obliterated in a few extended moments that splintered a quiet morning.”
 
What a noted author and newspaper correspondent.

An asthma attack is not a pleasant way to die. This is very sad news on all
accounts. I wish he could have been saved. He has done some fine work and
dedicated his life to reporting news coverage.

Quote " But Mr. Hicks said that Mr. Shadid, who had asthma and had carried medication with him, began to show symptoms as both of them were preparing to leave Syria on Thursday, and the symptoms escalated into what became a fatal attack. " Quote

I have seen a couple people in asthma attacks and have also been the victim
of allergy shock. A very serious condition that as we see can lead to death even with medication. I know I felt like I was gasping and choking and felt such fear.

Rest in Peace.
Blessing to the family and friends.

Goz
 
People like Anthony Shadid are why we in the States are so lucky to be a nation of immigrants. He was an American of Lebanese descent and, as such, was able to cover the Mid-East in a way that, say, an American of European descent might not have been able; able to read nuances and to be trusted by those he covered and, importantly, able to communicate what he found in English, the international lingua franca, Shaid reported truthfully and passionately what he found in those countries in the area his family originated, his words making the old dispensations startlingly clear for the rest of us who would have felt lost there without him.

A terrible loss.
 
One of the last articles written by Shadid, online today and to be published in NYT tomorrow:

Islamists’ Ideas on Democracy and Faith Face Test in Tunisia (nytimes.com)
TUNIS — The epiphany of Said Ferjani came after his poor childhood in a pious town in Tunisia, after a religious renaissance a generation ago awakened his intellect, after he plotted a coup and a torturer broke his back, and after he fled to Britain to join other Islamists seeking asylum on a passport he had borrowed from a friend.
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the rest at link above; marvelous prose, this guy wrote
 
A journalist friend of mine worked with him in the middle east some years ago. From what I hear...not just a great journalist, but a great guy and a great friend. He will be missed.
 
i meant to comment yesterday. agree with all above....he was just a phenomenal journalist and the loss is truly immeasurable.
 
A journalist friend of mine worked with him in the middle east some years ago. From what I hear...not just a great journalist, but a great guy and a great friend. He will be missed.
Yes, in the Daily Oklahoman article I linked, the editor said he'd dropped by the paper recently when he was in town. Nice to know he remembered where he came from, because the path of his greatness took him far from Oklahoma City.
 
Joplin family mourns death of foreign correspondent (joplinglobe.com)
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“This guy was one of the smartest people I have ever met, said Richard Joseph, a longtime dentist and real estate developer in Joplin. “He was a super bright guy.

“He was from Oklahoma City, but his family, like mine, was from Lebanon. He went to school back east to learn how to read and write in the Arabic language so he could do this reporting in the Middle East. I can speak the language fluently, but to read and write in it is unbelievable.’’

Shadid is a nephew of Joseph’s wife, Sue, who is from Oklahoma City. They drove to Oklahoma City over the weekend to be with the family.

“He’s my wife’s brother’s boy,” Joseph said. “I have known him since the day he was born. I saw him a while back. His dad, Buddy, was a dentist like me. It’s so sad. The family is so torn up about this.’’
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