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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VALDIVIESO, BOBBY — an editorial assistant on the International Desk whose tenure with The Associated Press spanned more than two decades, died June 3, 2005. He was 45.

Valdivieso had been on leave since early May. He joined the AP at New York headquarters in August 1983 as part of the support staff for the International Desk after his honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force. Prior to his 1980-83 military service, during which he was assigned to the Air Force security police, the New York City native worked as an office clerk from 1979-80 for Armanda Inc.

VALE, WILLIAM R. — a newsman for The Associated Press in Ohio for more than three decades, died Feb. 24, 2006, in Cincinnati. He was 71.

Bill, as he was known, retired from the AP bureau in Cincinnati in 1999. The Ohio native was born in Cincinnati on Aug. 8, 1934. He served in the military, attended the University of Louisville and the University of Cincinnati and worked in Ohio at the Cincinnati Times, the Middletown Journal, WCPO-TV and the Cincinnati Enquirer. He joined the AP in Cincinnati in 1969.

Survivors include his children, Matthew, Rebecca and Dylan Vale.

VATHIS, PAUL — whose 56 years as an Associated Press photographer included a 1962 Pulitzer Prize for his pensive picture of President Kennedy and former President Eisenhower walking together at Camp David following the Bay of Pigs invasion, died Dec. 10, 2002 in Harrisburg, Pa.

Vathis, who was 77, died in his sleep at his Mechanicsburg home. Vathis recently had been preparing to cover the Jan. 21 inauguration of Ed Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor, as Pennsylvania's 45th governor.

From the AP bureau in Harrisburg, where he spent most of his career, Vathis built a national reputation for his skill with a lens, his natural instinct for news and his boundless energy.

"In so many ways, Paul's career defined photojournalism at the AP," said Vin Alabiso, an AP vice president and the news cooperative's executive photo editor. "For more than half a century, his careful eye captured history as it happened. His gentle manner, journalistic instinct and skilled photography always brought results. Whether it was spot news, sports or a local feature, Paul's fierce dedication to the profession was unwavering. He will be sorely missed by all of us."

Gov. Mark S. Schweiker issued a statement hailing Vathis as "a hardworking professional who dedicated himself to capturing public life in Pennsylvania and across the globe."

In addition to his prize-winning shot of Kennedy and Eisenhower, Vathis provided the only newspaper photos of Wilt Chamberlain's history-making 100-point basketball game in Hershey in 1962. He had gone to the game as a spectator, taking his son along as a 10th birthday present.

Vathis shot the 1987 news-conference suicide of former Pennsylvania state Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer after he was convicted of taking a bribe. In 1979, he helped cover the nation's worst nuclear-power accident when the Three Mile Island plant in Middletown experienced a partial meltdown.

He regularly staffed Penn State's home football games and had covered the Little League World Series in Williamsport since 1954. Before the 2000 series opener, Vathis threw out the first pitch.

"Photographers are such an important part of the media that cover this event," said Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball Inc. "It's the human emotion and the joy and the thrill that showed on the kids' faces that Paul captured better than anyone."

"I always thought we were fortunate to have a Pulitzer Prize winner as a regular here," Keener said.

One of eight children of Greek immigrant parents, Vathis was born in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Mauch Chunk, since renamed Jim Thorpe.

A World War II Marine combat veteran, his introduction to photography consisted of sitting in the rear gunner's seat of a dive bomber and shooting pictures of damage that bombs inflicted on South Pacific island caves where Japanese soldiers were hiding.

Vathis began his AP career in Philadelphia after the war, in 1946. He also served a couple of years in the Pittsburgh bureau before being assigned to Harrisburg in 1952 — the same year Eisenhower was elected to his first term as president.

Because of his proximity to Gettysburg, where Eisenhower and his wife later bought a home, Vathis wound up helping the AP photographers in Washington cover Eisenhower's presidency. After Eisenhower left office, he and his wife continued their friendship with Vathis and he was the only photographer allowed to be present when famous people went to Gettysburg to visit the former president.

Vathis was scolded by Kennedy's press secretary for shooting his Pulitzer-winning picture on that April day in 1961 after the president's handlers had declared the photo opportunity over. The picture shows Kennedy and Eisenhower absorbed in conversation, their backs to the camera, as they walk down a path.

Vathis was kneeling at the time, and Bob Daugherty, the director of the AP's State Photo Center in Washington, said he snapped the famous shot "between the legs of a Secret Service man."

In a 1998 profile of Vathis by the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, Vathis said the serenity of his picture stood in contrast to the more violent images that had won Pulitzers before his.

"My picture was a feeling picture," he told the newspaper. "A young man with an old man. They looked so lonely."

Daugherty, who joined the AP in the early 1960s and spent most of his career as a Washington photographer, said Vathis was a hard-boiled newsman who "didn't know the meaning of the word `no'" but at the same time a warm person who made friends easily.

"Paul was a gregarious guy — he never met a stranger," he said.

Linda Stowell, the AP bureau chief in Pennsylvania, recalled that Vathis was recently asked to cover a national story unfolding in York on a weekend. Editors learned later that he left his own birthday party to handle the assignment. He shrugged off the inconvenience, saying, "It's not the first time. It's the business."

"Paul Vathis represented the best of journalism and the AP — he was fast, accurate and a leader in news," Stowell said.

Colleagues marveled at Vathis' ability to adapt to the revolutionary changes in photography over the years.

When Vathis started shooting for the AP, "he was using a box camera and flash powder," said Rusty Kennedy, an AP photographer in Philadelphia who was friends with Vathis for more than 30 years. "For him to have ended his career having mastered the latest technology of computers and digital photography says volumes about his dedication and his ability to persevere."

Funeral arrangements are pending, his wife said.

Vathis is survived by his wife, Barbara, their son and two daughters; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Related pages:
The Associated Press lensman won a Pulitzer Prize and captured historical events in his 56-year career.
Friends, family, pay respects to AP photographer Paul Vathis

VON NOLDE, BARON HANS FERDINAND — Former Associated Press photographer who covered sports and celebrities on three continents, died Nov. 9, 2002 at age 77.

Von Nolde was born in Berlin to the former Baroness Elizabeth Von Kloppmann and Baron Ferdinand Von Nolde.

After serving in the German Army on the Russian Front in World War II, he became a news photographer for the AP in Berlin. When he came to the United States in the early 1950s, he continued his career with AP, based in New York City.

He traveled to Europe, the Middle East, India, Russia, and Taiwan photographing President Eisenhower, Vice President Richard Nixon, President John F. Kennedy and many celebrities, according to his son.

Von Nolde's favorite assignments were photographing the Winter Olympics. After covering the 1960 games in Squaw Valley, Calif., he relocated there in 1962 and became director of public relations for the Squaw Valley ski resort. He moved to Southern California in the late 1970s before retiring to Sparks, Nev. to be closer to his family.

He is survived by his son, John Von Nolde; his grandsons, J.J. Von Nolde and Nicky Von Nolde; his stepson, Richard Arbib; and his former wife, Audrey Schulz.

At his request, no services were held.