Current:Home > reviewsSteven Hurst, who covered world events for The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died at 77 -Stellar Wealth Sphere
Steven Hurst, who covered world events for The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died at 77
View
Date:2025-04-25 23:45:33
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! (3112)
Related
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Stuck on holiday gifts? What happened when I used AI to help with Christmas shopping
- How to share Wi-Fi passwords easily from iPhone, other devices
- US Navy plans to raise jet plane off Hawaii coral reef using inflatable cylinders
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Oregon State, Washington State, Mountain West agree to 2024 football scheduling arrangement
- Will Kevin Durant join other 30-somethings as NBA MVP?
- Protester critically injured after setting self on fire outside Israeli consulate in Atlanta
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Police raid Moscow gay bars after a Supreme Court ruling labeled LGBTQ+ movement ‘extremist’
Ranking
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- The director of Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev, is also put in charge of the Bolshoi
- Barbie’s Simu Liu Shares He's Facing Health Scares
- Tucker Carlson once texted he hated Trump passionately. Now he's endorsing him for president.
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- What we learned from the Tesla Cybertruck delivery event about price, range and more
- Harris heads to Dubai to tackle delicate tasks of talking climate and Israel-Hamas war
- Jeezy alleges 'gatekeeping' of daughter amid divorce, Jeannie Mai requests 'primary' custody
Recommendation
DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
Breaking down the 7 biggest games of college football's final weekend
Henry Kissinger's life in photos
The Essentials: Dove Cameron gets vulnerable on 'Alchemical.' Here are her writing musts
From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
A yoga leader promised followers enlightenment. But he’s now accused of sexual abuse
Largest US publisher, bestselling authors sue over Iowa book ban
Goalie goal! Pittsburgh Penguins' Tristan Jarry scores clincher against Lightning