Obituaries:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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HACKETT, GEORGE — an AP newsman who wrote about Kentucky and Kentuckians for most of six decades, died Nov. 6, 2000 in Louisville, KY, following a brief illness. He was 82.

Hackett started his AP career in 1944 as a Wire photo operator, and later held a number of supervisory positions including news editor. He most recently was bureau enterprise editor.

"George Hackett arguably wrote more stories read by more people than any other journalist in Kentucky," said Ed Staats, Hackett's 13th bureau chief during his years as a wire service reporter. "Hackett, as he was known by everyone, also was a voracious reader and book reviewer whose reviews were distributed nationally by the AP."

Through his long years of service to the news agency, all in the Louisville bureau, Hackett rose to become the fifth longest-serving employee in the AP's global staff of more than 3,500.

He is survived by his wife, Mickey, a renowned artist whose watercolor paintings have been popular sellers in much of the Midwest.

HALL (Jr.), JOSEPH W. — an AP reporter for 39 years who was legendary for his knowledge and coverage of the U.S. Senate, died June 9, 2000 at age 89 in Gaithersburg, MD.

He retired from the AP in 1976, after covering the Senate for more than 25 years. He was an authority on tax and budget issues and spent five years on the staff of the House Ways and Means Committee after his AP retirement. He also covered the campaigns of four presidential candidates.

Born in Kansas City on Feb. 21, 1911, Hall attended Washington University in St. Louis and graduated in 1933 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

He joined the AP in Kansas City and served in AP bureaus in Jefferson City, Mo., and Topeka, Kan., before joining the Army in World War II. He served four years and became a captain. He resumed his AP career in New York after the war and transferred to the Washington bureau in 1950.

Hall is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.

HAMPSON, TED — a reporter for Chicago's WBBM-AM and a former AP broadcast correspondent, died July 13, 2000 in Chicago of colon cancer. He was 44.

Hampson became WBBM's morning street reporter in 1995. After almost a year as the radio station's managing editor, he was assigned to cover the aftermath of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He said he preferred reporting to management.

Before joining WBBM, Hampson spent more than a decade with the AP as a broadcast reporter in Washington and Chicago and then as the Midwest correspondent for the AP's national radio network. He covered several presidential campaigns and traveled with candidates including George Bush, Michael Dukakis and Richard Gephardt.

Among his many honors were reporting awards from the Chicago Headline Club and the AP Broadcasters Association for his coverage of the Mississippi River flood in 1993.

He is survived by his wife, Edie, and a son, Chris.

HANSON, GORDON J. — a former AP correspondent in Fargo, N.D., died Sept. 16, 2000 in an automobile accident near Rapid City, S.D. He was 71.

Hanson may have had a heart attack at the wheel, said state Highway Patrol Trooper Lyle Tolsma, who saw Hanson's vehicle go off the road. The vehicle left no skid marks, and Hanson was wearing a seat belt. Hanson had had two prior heart attacks.

Hanson joined the AP in 1971 in Des Moines, Iowa. He became correspondent in Fargo five years later. In 1978, he transferred to Bismarck and worked there for AP until 1984. He later worked for the Rapid City Journal, retiring in 1991.

Survivors include his wife, two sons and two daughters.

HARJOJINEM, SUDARTO — Technology Specialist in Jakarta, Indonesia, died on Sept. 25, 2007 in a Jakarta hospital where he was in intensive care for complications caused by an infection. He was 46.

In his 26 years with the AP, he initially worked as a Teletype operator, turning into a technical support person over the years.

He is survived by his wife and three children.

HARKER, DANIEL — a longtime Associated Press correspondent who covered Colombia's guerrilla war and the aftermath of the Cuban revolution before serving as an editor on the International Desk, has died, his wife said. He was 70.

Harker died of stomach illness Nov. 23, 2005 at a clinic in his native city of Bucaramanga, in northeastern Colombia.

Harker launched his journalistic career with El Tiempo, Colombia's largest daily, before joining AP in 1962 as a correspondent in Bogota. He later moved to Havana, where he covered Fidel Castro's consolidation of power.

He returned to Bogota in 1967 as chief of bureau before moving to New York three years later, where he served as an editor for the Latin American service on the International Desk until his retirement in 1996.

Harker is survived by his wife and three sons.

HARTNACK, MICHAEL —  a veteran Associated Press reporter who chronicled Zimbabwe's rise to black rule and its struggles since, died Aug. 2, 2006 in Harare, Zimbabwe, after suffering a stroke. He was 60.

At a memorial service Aug. 7 at a suburban Harare Presbyterian church, Hartnack was remembered as a reporter who defied numerous obstacles to write about a troubled nation where journalists are constantly harassed.

"He was one of the very best, courageous and brimming with integrity," said Maureen Johnson, a retired foreign correspondent and fellow Zimbabwean who worked for the AP.

Hartnack was born in Barotseland, in what was then Northern Rhodesia, before moving to Southern Rhodesia, where he worked for The Rhodesia Herald and the Zimbabwe Inter-African News Agency and then contributed to several foreign media, including The Times of London and Deutsche Welle. He joined the AP in 1984.

He covered the country's rise to black rule to become Zimbabwe in 1980, and then the country's decline as longtime President Robert Mugabe embarked on reforms that forced out white farmers and brought agricultural and economic disaster.

Hartnack's stories on the changes were widely used in newspapers across South Africa, Zimbabwe's neighbor, and prompted Rhodes University of Grahamstown, South Africa, to award him a doctorate in literature in 2003.

HARPER, EDITH GAYLORD — who began her journalism career at her father's newspaper and went on to become a renowned philanthropist, died Jan. 28 , 2001 in Oklahoma City. She was 84.

Harper worked as a reporter and editor for The Oklahoman and Times. In 1942, she joined the AP in New York and went to work for the AP's Washington bureau the next year. She covered a range of stories, including Eleanor Roosevelt, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and a gas well blowout in Oklahoma.

Harper later returned to Oklahoma City where she worked as a corporate secretary and member of the board of directors of The Oklahoma Publishing Co. She was secretary emeritus at the time of her death.

She was a former president of the Oklahoma City Gridiron Foundation and sponsored scholarships for journalism students. She also established endowments at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., her father's alma mater.

Her brother, Edward L. Gaylord, is editor and publisher of The Oklahoman and chairman of Oklahoma Publishing. Nephew E.K. Gaylord II is president. Other survivors include a sister.

HARRELL, JERRY — Harrell, a former correspondent in Sacramento, Calif., for The Associated Press and a former spokesman for several government agencies, died Jan. 17, 2004, in Sacramento of leukemia. He was 70.

Harrell graduated from the University of Oregon's school of journalism in 1955 and went to work for The Associated Press in Portland. After a two-year Army stint, he returned as a reporter, news editor and correspondent in Sacramento.

Harrell covered the Legislature, then-Gov. Pat Brown and wrote a column about hunting and fishing.

Harrell left the AP in 1966 and during the next 29 years worked in public affairs for several government agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

HARRELSON, MAX — covered the early years of World War II and the United Nations, died June 4, 1999 at age 92 in Winchendon, MA., of a heart attack.

Harrelson started his AP career in Albany, N.Y., in 1931 and became a correspondent in such countries as Yugoslavia, Greece and Hungary during the early years of the war. He later served as an Army captain in WWII.

After the war, Harrelson was chief AP correspondent at the United Nations for 22 years and won several awards for outstanding reporting. He also was a part-time faculty member at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He retired in from the AP in 1972.

Survivors include his wife, Louise; a son and daughter; three brothers and a sister.

HARRIS, HARRY — a celebrated Associated Press photographer who captured images of the U.S. First Army marching across Europe in World War II, President Kennedy lying in state, and Hank Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th home run, has died. He was 88.

Harris, who worked for the AP for nearly a half century until his retirement in 1978, died Feb. 13, 2002, at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital on Long Island after a brief illness, said his granddaughter, Michelle Abramson.

"Harry was one of the icons in the profession," said Joe DeMaria, president of the New York Press Photographers Association, which Harris also served as president. "The guy was absolutely phenomenal. Anything he did, he did with 150 percent."

"60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney said that during World War II, Harris "was always quite popular with the guys." He remembered a brawl between Ernest Hemingway and another reporter that Harris broke up inside a hotel room in Rambouillet, France.

"Here's Harris, who stood about 5-5, in between these two guys, putting his hands on their chests," Rooney said. "I still laugh about it when I think about it today. He was really trying to be the peacemaker."

Marty Lederhandler, an AP photographer who recently retired after 66 years, remembered Harris as an outstanding sports photographer.

"He covered the World Series for many years. He had some great pictures," Lederhandler said. "I learned a lot from Harry; I was his messenger for a while. He was a big help to me."

Hal Buell, the AP's former executive newsphoto editor, agreed that Harris was "a first class sports photographer," but recalled a shot that he took after President Kennedy was assassinated.

"Harry noticed that inside the rotunda of the Capitol, there was a statue of Lincoln overlooking Kennedy's casket," Buell said. "Now, photos were not permitted inside. But Harry, being Harry, gets inside, gets to the right spot and clicks off the shutter. A guard hears the shutter go off and throws him out.

"Now he gets back to the newsroom and finds out that because the room was so dark, the shot was too dark. The editor tells Harry he's got to go back and do it again. Harry goes back and gets the shot again, this time with a slower shutter speed and wider aperture, and the guard catches him again. Only this time he gets an incredible photo of Lincoln looking down on Kennedy's casket."

Harris, who won numerous awards from NYPPA, was given the Randolph Hearst Award as "Photographer of the Year" in 1965. He is survived by a son, Michael, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

HART, REESE — an AP newsman and sports writer in Raleigh, NC, for more than two decades, died April 18, 2000 in Rockingham, N.C. He was 85.

Hart was a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference Sports Writers Association. After working for United Press International, he joined the AP in the early 1950s. He worked in the Raleigh bureau until his retirement in 1978. Survivors include two sons.

HARVEY (III), PAUL — a former AP newsman and a longtime sportswriter and wire editor at The (Eugene, Ore.) Register-Guard, died Oct. 14, 2000 in Eugene of a heart attack. He was 63.

Harvey, who joined the newspaper in 1955, left to work for the AP in Salem, Portland and Los Angeles. He returned to The Register-Guard sports department in 1960 and moved to the copy desk in 1976. Until he retired in 1996, he was responsible for national and international wire coverage.

Harvey's father, Paul Harvey Jr., was the AP correspondent in Salem for 38 years. His brother, John, is a senior editor at The Oregonian.

Survivors include his wife and three children.

HARVISON, RAYMOND F. (BUD) — an AP newsman for 42 years, died April 10. 1999 in Kansas City. He was 71.

Harvison joined AP in his native Seattle in 1947 from The Seattle Times. In 1950 he was named Tacoma correspondent in Washington state. In 1954 he transferred to San Francisco and then to Kansas City. He moved to Chicago as filer of what was known as the interbureau wire when it was inaugurated in 1957.

In 1960 he moved to the General Desk at New York headquarters where he stayed for six years in a variety of assignments, including his designation by AP General Manager Wes Gallagher as the news cooperative's first enterprise editor. In 1966, Harvison was named Topeka correspondent. He later transferred to Kansas City for the second time and worked there until he retired in 1989.

Survivors include his wife and a son.

HAUCK, LAWRENCE G. — a former United Nations reporter for the AP, died Sept. 26, 2000 in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 88.

Hauck began his career at a string of Ohio newspapers. He moved to the Detroit Free Press and then joined the AP, where he covered the United Nations after World War II for two years.

He then spent nearly three decades at the New York Times. He oversaw a wide range of the newspaper's operations, from managing UN reporting in Paris to directing coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in two elections. He was promoted to news editor in 1974 and retired the following year.

HEAD, LEWIS A. — a reporter and editor for AP for 35 years, died Jan. 10, 2000 in Livingston Manor, NY. He was 87.

As an editor in the AP's Newark, N.J., bureau, Head was a mentor to a generation of young AP journalists that included Victor Simpson, the Rome-based Vatican reporter; James Gerstenzang of the Los Angeles Times, and Chris Connell, former assistant chief of the AP Washington bureau, now on leave.

"He was one of those dedicated editors who trained a large army of young journalists," said Robert A. Dubill, executive editor of USA Today. Dubill, while AP's New Jersey bureau chief in the early 1970s, assigned Head to travel the state and write offbeat features and columns. Head joined the AP in 1941 and retired in 1976.

Survivors include his wife, daughter and sister.


HELDEN, FRANK JR. — Helden, 73, retired electronics technician for AP with over 35 years of service, died in Gladstone, Mo., Sept. 20, 2003.

A graveside memorial service was held Nov. 1 at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens in Kansas City, MO.

The Kansas City Star reported Oct. 26 that Helden was born in Kansas City and was a 1947 graduate of Northeast High School, and that he received the National Defense, Korean, United Nations and Good Conduct Service medals.

Survivors include a sister, Helen Goodner of Tulsa, OK, and several other relatives.


HELLER, PRUDENCE — who spent 57 years with The Associated Press before she retired in 2002, died Sept. 23, 2007, at the age of 86. She was a charter member of the Half-Century Club, which was created for AP's 1998 anniversary celebration to honor current and retired staffers with at least 50 years of service at the news cooperative.

Heller was in an intensive care unit in a facility in Tenafly, N.J., when she succumbed, said her husband, Peter, at their longtime Manhattan residence in New York City.

Born Prudence Tucker, Heller joined the Broadcast department at AP's New York headquarters in November 1944, just a few years after AP formally entered the radio news business as a unit called Press Association. As a newsperson on the broadcast staff, Heller helped train countless staffers who passed through the department during her nearly four decades as a radio script writer. She gained a reputation for being fast and accurate and in 1973, the AP Broadcast Association Awards Committee named her as the winner of the staff category for writing the best "National Summary" during 1972.

In 1983 when the New York Broadcast Department relocated to Washington, D.C., to join forces with the AP Radio audio staff at the newly-named Broadcast News Center, Heller transferred to New York World Service on what was called the RCA Telex news service desk. In 1985 she moved to the Special Services Desk and in 1996 she became a newsperson in AP Multimedia Services, which was renamed AP Digital by the time she left the AP in 2002.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the City University of New York's Hunter College, Heller came to the AP from the Office of War Information in Manhattan, where she did a stint as a field representative for several months. Prior to that the New York City native was a journalist for three and a-half years at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and the Long Island (N.Y.) Star-Journal.

As an active staffer and original inductee into the Half-Century Club, Heller regularly attended the AP 25-Year Club Dinner, an annual event held in New York to recognize years of service for the active staff and honor alumni. In her first year as an alumna, "Pru," as she was often called, won the 2002 President's Gift to a Retiree of $1,050 in a random drawing at the service recognition dinner. She most recently attended the alumni dinner in 2003.

She is survived by her husband of 49 years, a professor at Manhattan College.


HIGGINS, GEORGE V. — a former reporter for the AP and The Providence (R.I.) Journal who later became a prosecutor and then a novelist, died Nov. 6, 1999. He was 59. He was found at his home in Milton, Mass., and apparently died of natural causes.

Higgins published about 25 books. His best seller "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" was published in 1972. The book was made into a movie. His fictional characters were inspired by the underworld figures he rubbed elbows with while prosecuting organized crime cases.

In addition to writing about a book a year, he wrote columns for The Boston Herald American, The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal from 1977 to 1985.

Survivors include his wife, a son and a daughter.


HINES, WILLIAM A. "BILL" — After he moved from a job as automatics operator in the New York Sports Department to the Race Desk, Bill Hines tried his hand at handicapping horses running at some of the nation’s biggest race tracks.

“He was in charge of the race department at that time and was putting out all the results from tracks all over the country,” recalled AP retiree Ed Skylar.

“Then he tried handicapping the horses. He was calling them for a lot of tracks that he had never seen.

“And he did a pretty good job of it. It was kind of like the kids game of pinning the tail on the donkey.

“But Bill did good.”

Skylar himself retired in 2002 after 42 years with AP in Pittsburgh and New York, where most of his career was spent covering boxing and horse racing.

William A. "Bill" Hines died at his home near Carrollton, Georgia April 17, 2004, after a 15-year bout with cancer. He was 79.

The debilitating disease didn’t stop him from enjoying life. His home at Fairfield Plantation in the village of Villa Rica, GA was a base from which he golfed, boated, traveled and became involved in civic activities. He served as treasurer of the Fairfield Kiwanis Club for nine years.

Hines spent the first 65 years of his life in Brooklyn and Valley Stream, N.Y. He served in the U. S. Navy during World War II and then worked for a decade with The Stars and Stripes Newspaper. Then came 30 years with the AP in the New York office where he retired from the Race Department.

Most of his three years of U.S. Navy service in World War II was spent in the North Atlantic and North African theaters of operation.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Arline, three sons, Bob of Marietta, GA; Bill of Watkinsville, GA; and, Doug of Villa Rica and by 5 grandchildren.

A Memorial service was held April 20 at The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Douglasville, Ga. He was buried at the Veterans Cemetery in Ft. Mitchell, Alabama.

HOLLOWAY (Jr.), JOE — Holloway, a longtime AP photographer who captured some of the most dramatic images of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and sports around the Southeast during his 40-year journalism career, died of a heart attack Aug. 16, 2000. He was 72.

HOLMES, J. D. — Holmes, an influential and respected political writer, died March 21, 1999 at age 84.

Following his death, Montana legislators passed a resolution to name the new state Capitol pressroom in his honor. It was quickly signed by Gov. Marc Racicot. There are plans for a permanent display of some Holmes possessions in the pressroom.

Holmes covered 16 regular and six special sessions of the Montana Legislature for the AP. He retired in 1978 and in 1991 the Montana House of Representatives honored him with a resolution recognizing his "high standards and personal dedication." In retirement, Holmes became a lobbyist for Montana artists until 1983.

HOLT, CLARENCE "LARRY" — Holt, 97, retired Associated Press executive, died Saturday, July 31, 2004 at Largo Medical Center in Largo, Florida.

He was born January 17, 1907, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and became a naturalized citizen of the United States on December 21, 1942. He was preceded in death by his wife, Bonnelle M. Holt. He is survived by his daughter Elizabeth (Bette) Price and son-in-law John W. Price of Dallas, Texas; grandson Blake Holt Lind and great grandchildren Austin and Alexis Lind of Plano, Texas and granddaughter Lani Leigh Calbert and great grandchildren Brittany and Lauren Calbert of Scottsdale, Arizona. He is also survived by sisters Phyllis Baldcock, Edna Holt, and Violet Hurst of Ontario, Canada.

He joined the Associated Press in May, 1925 as a press telegrapher and retired in 1969 as assistant to the general manager of the Associated Press at their New York City, 50 Rockefeller Center corporate offices.

He served in the U. S. Army from 1943 to 1945 as a Teletype and Telefoto Supervisor where he organized and supervised communication service for Army News Service, providing news and photos throughout the world daily. He held a second class radio telegraph operators license with call letters K4GZL.

Burial services will be held graveside at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday, August 5.

HORAN, DONALD T. — a former AP technician in the Midwest and Southwest, died Sept. 20 in Canistota, S.D. He was 57.

His AP career began in 1977 in Peoria, IL., as a technician. He later transferred to Galesburg, IL., and was promoted to assistant chief of Communications in Chicago in 1980. He resigned in 1981 and returned to the AP later that year as a temporary technician in Oklahoma City. When that temporary assignment ended in 1981 he left the AP again. He was rehired as technician in New Orleans in 1982 and transferred later that year to Phoenix where he stayed until he went on long term disability in 1988.

He is survived by his wife and five children.

HORST, CRAIG — a deft and versatile AP reporter who covered everything from the Kansas City Royals' quest for the World Series to Bill Clinton's pursuit of the presidency, died Nov. 24, 2000 in Kansas City following a brief illness. He was 46.

Horst joined AP as a temporary legislative staffer in Jefferson City, MO, in 1979, shortly after getting his master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Following a two-year stint as a newsman in the St. Louis bureau, he transferred to Kansas City and became a favorite of newsmakers and news reporters alike.

Horst's final AP assignment came on Nov. 7, when he was part of the bureau's election coverage team. He entered the hospital that evening.

Survivors include his parents and a sister.


HUDGINS, GARVEN F. — a former AP correspondent who covered a Nazi mastermind's trial, died Monday, June 23, 2008, in Maryland. He was 84. Hudgins joined the AP in 1951 in New York. He retired from the AP in 1971.

Read the July 1 AP story below.

AP correspondent who covered Eichmann trial dies

By NAFEESA SYEED

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Garven F. Hudgins, a former Associated Press foreign correspondent who covered the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, has died, his family said. He was 84.

Hudgins died June 23 at a Potomac, Md., nursing home after suffering from dementia for three years, said his son Rob Hudgins of Centreville, Md.

The journalist joined the AP in 1951 in New York and later served as a reporter and editor for the news service in London, Paris and Cairo, and as its bureau chief in Istanbul, his son said.

A colleague described him as unassuming and personable throughout a career spent covering high-profile topics such as Nazi mastermind Eichmann, whom Israel pursued, captured, tried and hanged in 1962.

"He was mild mannered, modest, hard working," said George McArthur, 83, of Vienna, Va., a former bureau chief for the AP in Cairo. "He was a good editor as well as being a good reporter. He had a good eye for detail -- little things didn't get by him."

Before joining the AP, the 1949 Yale graduate served in World War II as part of the press corps. He was born March 6, 1924 in Portsmouth, Va.

Rob Hudgins remembers his family fleeing Cairo before the 1967 Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel while his father stayed behind to cover it. But he said his father was among hundreds of foreigners who were quickly expelled from the country.

"The thing that stands out is the upbringing we got and (being) exposed to many different cultures," Rob Hudgins, 55, said. "I am very grateful."

McArthur said Hudgins advised him on matters in the Middle East.

"He kept me informed about the intricacies of the Arab world, which he understood very well," McArthur said.

Hudgins retired from the AP in 1971 and became an administrator at the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. He worked there for 20 years, retiring as assistant to the group's director.

Garven Hudgins Jr., 58, of Potomac, Md., said his father "loved working for the AP."

"I was going through his correspondence, letters written among foreign correspondents. The writing was incredibly elegant and witty," he said.

Hudgins' wife, Jane Moore Hudgins, died in October 2005.

Hudgins is survived by his two sons, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

HUDSON, WILLIAM A. — a retired Kentucky broadcast editor for the AP, died Sept. 6, 2000 in Louisville, KY. He was 79.

Hudson covered University of Kentucky football and basketball while Lexington correspondent early in his 40-year career. Later, he was the broadcast editor in the Louisville bureau. He retired in February 1984.

Survivors include his wife, a son and two daughters.

HUGHES, ALISTER — who covered the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 and was one of the Caribbean's most respected journalists, died Feb. 28, 2005 at his home in St. George's, Grenada, of a stroke. He was 86.

"Grenada has lost one of the most respected and responsible journalists this country has ever known," Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said March 1. "He was a historian in his own right and always took the time to investigate."

Hughes served as a correspondent for several international organizations, including The Associated Press, for a decade beginning in 1985.

A coup by hard-liners on Oct. 19, 1983, left Grenada's leader Maurice Bishop, four Cabinet ministers and six supporters dead and was a key factor in the U.S. invasion several days later. Hughes was the last journalist known to have spoken with Bishop. When asked for a comment, the only words that Hughes caught from Bishop were "the masses, the masses."

Hughes was detained later that day by coup supporters and remained in jail until Oct. 25, when thousands of U.S. troops stormed the island to protect American medical students and prevent a buildup of Cuban military advisers and weapons.