Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America91裸聊视频檚 longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76.
Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his best-selling 1993 memoir 91裸聊视频淒en of Lions,91裸聊视频� died on Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said his daughter, Sulome Anderson.
Anderson died of complications from recent heart surgery, his daughter said.
91裸聊视频淭erry 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 the result of his work,91裸聊视频� said Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of the AP.
91裸聊视频淗e never liked to be called a hero, but that91裸聊视频檚 what everyone persisted in calling him,91裸聊视频� said Sulome Anderson. 91裸聊视频淚 saw him a week ago and my partner asked him if he had anything on his bucket list, anything that he wanted to do. He said, 91裸聊视频業91裸聊视频檝e lived so much and I91裸聊视频檝e done so much. I91裸聊视频檓 content.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson led a peripatetic life, giving public speeches, teaching journalism at several prominent universities and, at various times, operating a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant.
He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, won millions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets after a federal court concluded that country played a role in his capture, then lost most of it to bad investments. He filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
Upon retiring from the University of Florida in 2015, Anderson settled on a small horse farm in a quiet, rural section of northern Virginia he had discovered while camping with friends. `
91裸聊视频淚 live in the country and it91裸聊视频檚 reasonably good weather and quiet out here and a nice place, so I91裸聊视频檓 doing all right,91裸聊视频� he said with a chuckle during a 2018 interview with The Associated Press.
In 1985 he became one of several Westerners abducted by members of the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah during a time of war that had plunged Lebanon into chaos.
After his release, he returned to a hero91裸聊视频檚 welcome at AP91裸聊视频檚 New York headquarters.
As the AP91裸聊视频檚 chief Middle East correspondent, Anderson had been reporting for several years on the rising violence gripping Lebanon as the country fought a war with Israel, while Iran funded militant groups trying to topple its government.
On March 16, 1985, a day off, he had taken a break to play tennis with former AP photographer Don Mell and was dropping Mell off at his home when gun-toting kidnappers dragged him from his car.
He was likely targeted, he said, because he was one of the few Westerners still in Lebanon and because his role as a journalist aroused suspicion among members of Hezbollah.
91裸聊视频淏ecause in their terms, people who go around asking questions in awkward and dangerous places have to be spies,91裸聊视频� he told the Virginia newspaper The Review of Orange County in 2018.
What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and often was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time.
Anderson was the longest held of several Western hostages Hezbollah abducted over the years, including Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had arrived to try to negotiate his release.
By his and other hostages91裸聊视频� accounts, he was also their most hostile prisoner, constantly demanding better food and treatment, arguing religion and politics with his captors, and teaching other hostages sign language and where to hide messages so they could communicate privately.
He managed to retain a quick wit and biting sense of humor during his long ordeal. On his last day in Beirut he called the leader of his kidnappers into his room to tell him he91裸聊视频檇 just heard an erroneous radio report saying he91裸聊视频檇 been freed and was in Syria.
91裸聊视频淚 said, 91裸聊视频楳ahmound, listen to this, I91裸聊视频檓 not here. I91裸聊视频檓 gone, babes. I91裸聊视频檓 on my way to Damascus.91裸聊视频� And we both laughed,91裸聊视频� he told Giovanna Dell91裸聊视频橭rto, author of 91裸聊视频淎P Foreign Correspondents in Action: World War II to the Present.91裸聊视频�
He learned later his release was delayed when a third party who his kidnappers planned to turn him over to left for a tryst with the party91裸聊视频檚 mistress and they had to find someone else.
Anderson91裸聊视频檚 humor often hid the PTSD he acknowledged suffering for years afterward.
91裸聊视频淭he AP got a couple of British experts in hostage decompression, clinical psychiatrists, to counsel my wife and myself and they were very useful,91裸聊视频� he said in 2018. 91裸聊视频淏ut one of the problems I had was I did not recognize sufficiently the damage that had been done.
91裸聊视频淪o, when people ask me, you know, 91裸聊视频楢re you over it?91裸聊视频� Well, I don91裸聊视频檛 know. No, not really. It91裸聊视频檚 there. I don91裸聊视频檛 think about it much these days, it91裸聊视频檚 not central to my life. But it91裸聊视频檚 there.91裸聊视频�
At the time of his abduction, Anderson was engaged to be married and his future wife was six months pregnant with their daughter, Sulome.
The couple married soon after his release but divorced a few years later, and although they remained on friendly terms Anderson and his daughter were estranged for years.
91裸聊视频淚 love my dad very much. My dad has always loved me. I just didn91裸聊视频檛 know that because he wasn91裸聊视频檛 able to show it to me,91裸聊视频� Sulome Anderson told the AP in 2017.
Father and daughter reconciled after the publication of her critically acclaimed 2017 book, 91裸聊视频淭he Hostage91裸聊视频檚 Daughter,91裸聊视频� in which she told of traveling to Lebanon to confront and eventually forgive one of her father91裸聊视频檚 kidnappers.
91裸聊视频淚 think she did some extraordinary things, went on a very difficult personal journey, but also accomplished a pretty important piece of journalism doing it,91裸聊视频� Anderson said. 91裸聊视频淪he91裸聊视频檚 now a better journalist than I ever was.91裸聊视频�
Terry Alan Anderson was born Oct. 27, 1947. He spent his early childhood years in the small Lake Erie town of Vermilion, Ohio, where his father was a police officer.
After graduating from high school, he turned down a scholarship to the University of Michigan in favor of enlisting in the Marines, where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant while seeing combat during the Vietnam War.
After returning home, he enrolled at Iowa State University where he graduated with a double major in journalism and political science and soon after went to work for the AP. He reported from Kentucky, Japan and South Africa before arriving in Lebanon in 1982, just as the country was descending into chaos.
91裸聊视频淎ctually, it was the most fascinating job I91裸聊视频檝e ever had in my life,91裸聊视频� he told The Review. 91裸聊视频淚t was intense. War91裸聊视频檚 going on 91裸聊视频� it was very dangerous in Beirut. Vicious civil war, and I lasted about three years before I got kidnapped.91裸聊视频�
Anderson was married and divorced three times. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Gabrielle Anderson, from his first marriage; a sister, Judy Anderson; and a brother, Jack Anderson.
91裸聊视频淭hough my father91裸聊视频檚 life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace in recent years. I know he would choose to be remembered not by his very worst experience, but through his humanitarian work with the Vietnam Children91裸聊视频檚 Fund, the Committee to Protect Journalists, homeless veterans and many other incredible causes,91裸聊视频� Sulome Anderson said in a statement Sunday.
Memorial arrangements were pending, Sulome Anderson said.
91裸聊视频�-
Biographical material for this obituary was prepared by retired Associated Press writer John Rogers. AP journalist Andrew Meldrum contributed from New York.
John Rogers, The Associated Press
