SHARE

'Killing Fields' Journalist Sydney Schanberg Dies In Hudson Valley

POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. -- Sydney H. Schanberg, who earned a place in history with his chronicles of war-torn Cambodia in the 1970s for The New York Times, died Saturday in Poughkeepsie, The New York Times reported. He was 82.

Sydney H. Schanberg, whose award-winning work for The New York Times covering Cambodia in the 1970s inpired the film "The Killing Fields," died Saturday at age 82.

Sydney H. Schanberg, whose award-winning work for The New York Times covering Cambodia in the 1970s inpired the film "The Killing Fields," died Saturday at age 82.

Photo Credit: www.beyondthekillingfields.com

Schanberg, a foreign correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in Cambodia that continued even after most other Western journalists had fled the war zone, suffered a heart attack Tuesday, The New York Times said.

A Harvard-educated journalist known for his tenacious quest to capture the suffering during Cambodia's civil war and ultimate fall to the Khmer Rouge, Schanberg inspired the film "The Killing Fields." He went on to write a book, "Beyond the Killing Fields," featuring collections of his war writing from the Vietnam War through the Iraq War.

Born Jan. 17, 1934, in Clinton, Mass., Schanberg had his first job in newspapers as a copy boy for the New York Times in 1959, according to the "Beyond the Killing Fields" website

After graduating from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in government in 1955, he spent two years with the U.S. Army before pursuing a long career in journalism, The New York Times said. In addition to the Pulitzer, Schanberg earned two George Polk awards, two Overseas Press Club awards and the Sigma Delta Chi prize for distinguished journalism, reported The New York Times.

He left the New York Times in 1986, and went on to work at New York Newsday, APBNews.com, then The Village Voice. He also taught at the State University of New York at New Paltz. 

Most recently, he divided his time between New York City and his home in New Paltz. He leaves behind his wife Jane Freiman, two daughters, Jessica and Rebecca, and two grandchildren, according to his website.

Click here to read The New York Times article.

to follow Daily Voice Stamford and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE