Anthony Shadid (1968-2012)

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid died Thursday, apparently from an asthma attack. He was 43.

Shadid was a terrific reporter who displayed enormous intelligence, empathy and curiosity — traits that amplified and enhanced one another in his courageous reporting.

Shadid was a frequent guest on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, someone host Terry Gross often turned to for a deeper and broader examination of developments in the Middle East. The following is from “Fresh Air Remembers War Reporter Anthony Shadid” — which also includes links to several of his appearances on the program, all worth a listen:

New York Times foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid died Thursday, after apparently suffering a fatal asthma attack in Syria, where he was reporting on the political uprising.

In his pursuit of stories in war zones — stories he believed needed to be told — Shadid risked his life many times, and almost lost it several times. In 2002, he was shot and wounded while covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last year while covering the uprising in Libya, he was kidnapped by government forces who beat him and held him for a week. Not long after, he risked his life again to sneak into Syria, which was not granting visas to foreign journalists.

… Shadid was an American of Lebanese descent. He was fluent in Arabic, which enabled him to speak directly with the people he was covering, and was on Fresh Air frequently over the years, most recently this past December, when he reflected on his time reporting from the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Bahrain. He told Terry Gross that 2011 had been one of the most unbelievable years he ever could have imagined experiencing in the Middle East region.

See also:

• The New York Times: “Excerpts From Anthony Shadid’s Reporting“
• Margalit Fox: “Anthony Shadid, Reporter in the Middle East, Dies at 43“
• Alyssa Rosenberg: “The Best of Anthony Shadid: 20 Great Pieces by Two-Time Pulitzer Middle East Reporter“
• Global Voices: “Arab World Mourning Anthony Shadid“
• Terry McDermott: “Anthony Shadid saw the deeper story in Iraq“

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Gary Carter (1954-2012)

Baseball is just a game, I know, but it’s a beautiful game. And Carter played it well.

My dad and I watched the 1984 All-Star game on TV. We saw 19-year-old Mets rookie Dwight Gooden strike out three of the American League’s best hitters, pitching two scoreless innings and Dad said, “Imagine if the Mets had a catcher like that. He’d win 20 games.” The following year, with Carter behind the plate, Gooden won 24 games. And the year after that, in Game 6, Carter singled with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and … well, I’ve got friends in Boston, so I’ll skip the rest.

Richard Goldstein: “Gary Carter, Star Catcher Who Helped Mets to Series Title, Dies at 57”

Gary Carter, the slugging catcher known as Kid for the sheer joy he took in playing baseball, who entered the Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo but who most famously helped propel the Mets to their dramatic 1986 World Series championship, died Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 57.

• Ben Walker: “Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter dies at 57“
• Tom Verducci: “Gary Carter, the light of the Mets“