OBITUARY: Anthony Shadid, award-winning US reporter, dies in Syria

Feb 17, 2012, 10:38 GMT

Berlin - Anthony Shadid, a US reporter who worked for The New York Times, died in Syria on Thursday while on assignment, apparently of an asthma attack. He was 43.

Shadid, born in Oklahoma, US and of Lebanese descent, won two Pulitzer Prizes for his international reporting. He was married with two children.

The writer's body was accompanied over the border to Turkey by his colleague, photographer Tyler Hicks. Both had been inside Syria without government permission, reporting on the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.

Known for a lyrical, in depth and humanistic writing style, Shadid had an eye and ear for detail, paying close attention to every utterance of the people around him, and finding unique ways of transmitting their emotions and tribulations to readers.

The writer began his career working for the Associated Press in Cairo. He later joined the Boston Globe, where he covered the US State Department for two years.

He then worked for the Washington Post as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, before moving to The New York Times in late 2009.

Shadid had lived through his share of danger as a correspondent. In 2002, he was shot in the shoulder while in Ramallah, on the West Bank. In 2011, along with three other colleagues from The Times, Shadid was imprisoned in Libya for over a week by forces loyal to Moammer Gaddafi.

His reporting from Iraq, following the US-led invasion, earned him two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 2004 and again in 2010.

The prize committee said he was given the award in 2004 'for his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended.'

In 2010, he was again awarded the distinction, with the committee saying his articles on Iraq as the US was departing were 'rich, beautifully written.'

In interviews, Shadid said that certain risks were worth taking in order to get important stories that would otherwise go unreported. He felt the winds of change in the Middle East were of remarkable consequence to the region and the world.

'Anthony died as he lived - determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East,' said The Times' executive editor, Jill Abramson.

Colleagues said his work in the region was 'groundbreaking' and 'passionate.' Several fellow journalists noted that besides being a talented writer, who produced a large body of distinguished work over the past decade, Shadid was a good person and friend.

In the hard-nosed world of war correspondents, finding the two characteristics in one person is not always easy.

He was also seen as an inspiration by the growing class of educated, young Arab-Americans, who looked up to the man who regularly received large, front-page spreads in the most important newspapers in the US.

According to Hicks, the photographer, Shadid had begun to show symptoms of asthma as they were preparing to leave Syria on Thursday. Within several hours, the symptoms became a fatal attack. The exact details remained unclear.

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