Current:Home > MySteven Hurst, who covered world events for The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died at 77-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Steven Hurst, who covered world events for The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died at 77
View Date:2024-12-23 16:34:59
Steven R. Hurst, who over a decades-long career in journalism covered major world events including the end of the Soviet Union and the Iraq War as he worked for news outlets including The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died. He was 77.
Hurst, who retired from AP in 2016, died sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning at his home in Decatur, Illinois, his daughter, Ellen Hurst, said Friday. She said his family didn’t know a cause of death but said he had congestive heart failure.
“Steve had a front-row seat to some of the most significant global stories, and he cared deeply about ensuring people around the world understood the history unfolding before them,” said Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “Working alongside him was also a master class in how to get to the heart of a story and win on the biggest breaking news.”
He first joined the AP in 1976 as a correspondent in Columbus, Ohio, after working at the Decatur Herald and Review in Illinois. The next year, he went to work for AP in Washington and then to the international desk before being sent to Moscow in 1979. He then did a brief stint in Turkey before returning to Moscow in 1981 as bureau chief.
He left AP in the mid-1980s, working for NBC and then CNN.
Reflecting on his career upon retirement, Hurst said in Connecting, a newsletter distributed to current and former AP employees by a retired AP journalist, that a career highlight came when he covered the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 while he was working for CNN.
“I interviewed Boris Yeltsin live in the Russian White House as he was about to become the new leader, before heading in a police escort to the Kremlin where we covered Mikhail Gorbachev, live, signing the papers dissolving the Soviet Union,” Hurst said. “I then interviewed Gorbachev live in his office.”
Hurst returned to AP in 2000, eventually becoming assistant international editor in New York. Prior to his appointment as chief of bureau in Iraq in 2006, Hurst had rotated in and out of Baghdad as a chief editor for three years and also wrote from Cairo, Egypt, where he was briefly based.
He spent the last eight years of his career in Washington writing about U.S. politics and government.
Hurst, who was born on March 13, 1947, grew up in Decatur and graduated from of Millikin University, which is located there. He also had a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Ellen Hurst said her father was funny and smart, and was “an amazing storyteller.”
“He’d seen so much,” she said.
She said his career as a journalist allowed him to see the world, and he had a great understanding from his work about how big events affected individual people.
“He was very sympathetic to people across the world and I think that an experience as a journalist really increased that,” Ellen Hurst said.
His wife Kathy Beaman died shortly after Hurst retired. In addition to his daughter, Ellen Hurst, he’s also survived by daughters Sally Hurst and Anne Alavi and four grandchildren.
veryGood! (88)
Related
- After years of unrest, Commanders have reinvented their culture and shattered expectations
- Martha Stewart says 'unfriendly' Ina Garten stopped talking to her when she went to prison
- Court takes ‘naked ballots’ case over Pennsylvania mail-in voting
- Federal officials have increased staff in recent months at NY jail where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is held
- Benny Blanco Reveals Selena Gomez's Rented Out Botanical Garden for Lavish Date Night
- Week 3 NFL fantasy tight end rankings: Top TE streamers, starts
- Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to decide whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stays on ballot
- The Eagles deploy pristine sound, dazzling visuals at Vegas Sphere kickoff concert: Review
- Kansas basketball vs Michigan State live score updates, highlights, how to watch Champions Classic
- Best used cars under $10,000: Sedans for car shoppers on a budget
Ranking
- Mike Tomlin's widely questioned QB switch to Russell Wilson has quieted Steelers' critics
- Georgia State Election Board approves rule requiring hand count of ballots
- Cards Against Humanity sues Elon Musk's SpaceX over land bought to curb Trump border wall
- Upset alert for Miami, USC? Bold predictions for Week 4 in college football
- My Chemical Romance returns with ‘The Black Parade’ tour
- Court rules nearly 98,000 Arizonans whose citizenship hadn’t been confirmed can vote the full ballot
- Secret Service report details communication failures preceding July assassination attempt on Trump
- Civil War Museum in Texas closing its doors in October; antique shop to sell artifacts
Recommendation
-
Artem Chigvintsev Returns to Dancing With the Stars Ballroom Amid Nikki Garcia Divorce
-
Florida deputy accidentally shoots and kills his girlfriend, officials say
-
NASCAR 2024 playoffs at Bristol: Start time, TV, streaming, lineup for Night Race
-
California fire agency employee arrested on suspicion of starting 5 blazes
-
Video ‘bares’ all: Insurers say bear that damaged luxury cars was actually a person in a costume
-
Did Lyle Menendez wear a hair piece? Why it came up in pivotal scene of Netflix's new 'Monsters' series
-
Caitlin Clark rewrites WNBA record book: Inside look at rookie's amazing season
-
What to watch: Let's be bad with 'The Penguin' and 'Agatha All Along'