'One Of The Greatest Journalists Of Her Generation,' Anne Garrels Dies

CONNECTICUT —Described as one of the "greatest journalists of her generation," Anne Garrels, the decades-long senior foreign correspondent for NPR, died Wednesday at age 71 from lung cancer.

She lived in Norfolk, Connecticut.

Over more than 30 years as a journalist covering the world and its conflicts, Garrels has "reported from some of the most dangerous places on earth," according to her biography on Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

"Known for reporting directly from the front lines, Garrels’ tremendous skill in bringing the news of the world to our doorsteps from Central America, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and Baghdad," her bio reads, "makes her one of the greatest journalists of her generation."

The Missouri School of Journalism awarded Garrels with the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 2004.

An NPR correspondent since 1988, she earned international recognition in 2003 by being one of only a few U.S. journalists to remain in Baghdad during the initial invasion of Iraq.

Her award-winning memoir, "Naked In Baghdad," chronicled her years covering the Iraq War.

Garrels graduated from Radcliffe College in 1972 and "learned Russian along the way with a keen interest in events going on inside of what was then the Soviet Union," her bio reads. That led her to take a research job at ABC News, and, she, "soon found herself on assignment in Moscow." It's noted that she "built relationships and came to deeply understand the many in the Soviet Union who wished to maintain human dignity and truth." Ultimately, her "investigative reporting led to her expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1982."

Garrels' book "Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia," is described as a "portrait of Russia’s silent majority is both essential and engaging reading at a time when Cold War tensions are resurgent."

Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she created an NGO, Assist-Ukraine.org, to "aid Ukrainians inside Ukraine who are resisting the Russian onslaught."