Longtime AP reporter and editor Bill Mann dies at 83 | EUROtoday

Bill Mann, a reporter and editor who lined the Philippines, Cairo, India, Scandinavia and Washington, D.C., over an almost 50-year profession at The Associated Press, died Thursday in Reston, Va., his household mentioned. He was 83.

Relatives and colleagues remembered Mann as a stickler for particulars and a deeply variety one that blended his love of journalism along with his empathy for everybody he labored with.

“Billy Mann was a wonderful representative for The Associated Press in global hot spots from the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos to the turbulent Middle East,” mentioned longtime AP United Nations bureau chief Edith M. Lederer. “He was well-liked for his warm personality and admired for his deft reporting.”

A Georgia native who met his spouse, Mimi, on the University of Georgia’s journalism faculty, Mann was a rabid Georgia Bulldogs fan.

“Outside of family, it was his biggest passion,” mentioned his daughter Samantha Rudolph.

Upon graduating, Mann went to officer candidate faculty, grew to become a naval officer and served for 4 years at a base within the Philippines and on the Pentagon.

After leaving the Navy, Mann joined the AP in Louisville, Kentucky. He labored on the company’s New York headquarters and elsewhere within the United States earlier than turning into Cairo bureau chief for 10 years.

“He would sit in his office in the back, smoking cigars, feet on the desk, reading copy,” his daughter remembers. “He was just surrounded by incredible people who looked up to him in every way.”

While in Cairo, an early Nineteen Nineties journey to Somalia — ravaged by famine and warfare — left even the veteran correspondent traumatized.

“It was seeing the hunger and the deprivation, the remnants of war,” his daughter remembered. “He refused to talk about it. He saw things that he didn’t want to talk about.”

Mann was identified with Alzheimer’s in 2010 and died of a virus in a reminiscence care facility, mentioned Mimi Mann, his spouse of greater than 60 years.

Despite the illness, she mentioned, “he kept his love of journalism.”

Mann’s most fondly remembered interview passed off when he was working on the AP’s Louisville, Kentucky, bureau and met boxer Cassius Clay, who went on to change into world champion Muhammad Ali.

“He interviewed countless heads of state, talked to everybody and what stood out was Muhammad Ali,” his daughter Rudolph mentioned. “He always said that without a doubt his best and favorite interview was Muhammad Ali.”

Ken Guggenheim, considered one of Mann’s former editors, mentioned that, “Billy was just the consummate AP man. He was just a stickler for details, determined that the grammar was right, the style was right and that the story would be perfect when it would hit the wire.”

Above all, nonetheless, Mann’s variety and beneficiant character set him aside, they mentioned.

“Everyone loved Billy,” Guggenheim mentioned. “He was someone who showed you could be a great journalist and a great person at the same time.”

Mann is survived by his spouse, daughter, son and 4 grandchildren.