In a somber turn of events, Terry Anderson, the courageous AP reporter who was abducted, has passed away at the age of 76. But amidst the sadness, there lies a story waiting to be told. Join us as we uncover the journey of this remarkable journalist and unravel the mysteries surrounding his life and legacy.
Terry Anderson, Abducted AP Reporter Dies At 76
Terry Anderson, the world-traveling Associated Press correspondent who was kidnapped off a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and kept captive for nearly seven years, became one of America’s longest-held hostages. Anderson passed away at the age of 76.
Anderson, whose best-selling 1993 memoir “Den of Lions” detailed his abduction and grueling captivity by Islamic terrorists, passed away on Sunday at his Greenwood Lake, New York, home, according to his daughter Sulome Anderson.
Terry Anderson, AP reporter held captive for years, has died https://t.co/zhYvF4bjo8
— KLFY NEWS 10 (@KLFY) April 22, 2024
As per his daughter, Anderson passed away due to complications following recent heart surgery.
Julie Pace, senior vice president of AP said, “Terry was deeply committed to on-the-ground eyewitness reporting and demonstrated great bravery and resolve, both in his journalism and during his years held hostage. We are so appreciative of the sacrifices he and his family made as a result of his work.”
Following his return to the US in 1991, Anderson lived a nomadic life, lecturing on public speaking engagements, teaching journalism at a number of prestigious universities, and running a gourmet restaurant, horse ranch, blues bar, and Cajun restaurant at different points in his career.
Along with dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, he lost most of the millions of dollars he gained from frozen Iranian assets after a federal court found that Iran was involved in his abduction. In 2009, he declared bankruptcy.
Anderson moved to a tiny horse farm in a peaceful, rural area of northern Virginia that he had discovered when camping with friends after retiring from the University of Florida in 2015.
Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim organization, abducted Anderson in 1985 along with a number of other Westerners amid a war that had left Lebanon in ruins.
He was greeted as a hero when he returned to the AP’s New York headquarters upon his release. As the lead AP Middle East reporter, Anderson had been covering the escalating carnage in Lebanon throughout its war with Israel for several years, all the while Iran was funding terrorist organizations attempting to overthrow the country’s government.
On March 16, 1985, Anderson took a day off, to play tennis with Don Mell, a former AP photographer, and was on his way to drop Mell off at his house when he was pulled from his car by armed kidnappers.
He claimed that he was probably singled out because he was one of the few Westerners still in Lebanon and that Hezbollah members were suspicious of him since he was a journalist.
What happened next was nearly seven years of abuse: he was beaten, shackled to a wall, threatened with death, had guns to his head frequently, and spent a lot of time in solitary confinement.
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