37 Facts About Marie Colvin

Marie Catherine Colvin was an American journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper The Sunday Times from 1985 until her death.

Marie Colvin was one of the most prominent war correspondents of her generation, widely recognized for her extensive coverage on the frontlines of various conflicts across the globe.

On February 22 2012, Colvin was killed in an attack made by Syrian government forces while covering the siege of Homs, alongside the French photojournalist Remi Ochlik.

Marie Colvin's family established the Marie Colvin Memorial Fund through the Long Island Community Foundation, which strives to give donations in Marie's name in honor of her humanitarianism.

In July 2016, lawyers representing Marie Colvin's family filed a civil action against the Syrian Arab Republic in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming they had obtained proof that the Syrian government had directly ordered her assassination.

Marie Colvin was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, and grew up in East Norwich in the town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, on Long Island.

Marie Colvin's father, William J Colvin, was a Marine Corps veteran of WWII and an English teacher in New York City public schools.

Marie Colvin was active in Democratic politics in Nassau County.

Marie Colvin served as Deputy County Executive under Eugene Nickerson.

Marie Colvin's mother, Rosemarie Marron Colvin, was a high school guidance counselor in Long Island public schools.

Marie Colvin had two brothers, William and Michael, and two sisters, Aileen and Catherine.

Marie Colvin graduated from Oyster Bay High School in 1974, spending her junior year of high school abroad on an exchange program in Brazil and later attended Yale University.

Marie Colvin was an anthropology major but took a course with the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John Hersey.

Marie Colvin started writing for the Yale Daily News "and decided to be a journalist," her mother said.

Marie Colvin graduated with a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1978.

Marie Colvin worked briefly for a labor union in New York City, before starting her journalism career with United Press International, a year after graduating from Yale.

Marie Colvin worked for UPI first in Trenton, then New York and Washington.

In 1984, Marie Colvin was appointed Paris bureau manager for UPI, before moving to The Sunday Times in 1985.

In May 1988, Marie Colvin made an extended appearance on the Channel 4 discussion programme After Dark, alongside Anton Shammas, Gerald Kaufman, Moshe Amirav, Nadia Hijab and others.

Marie Colvin won the International Women's Media Foundation award for Courage in Journalism for her coverage of Kosovo and Chechnya.

Marie Colvin wrote and produced documentaries, including Arafat: Behind the Myth for the BBC.

Marie Colvin is featured in the 2005 documentary film Bearing Witness.

Marie Colvin lost the sight in her left eye while reporting on the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Marie Colvin was struck by a blast from a Sri Lankan Army rocket-propelled grenade on April 16,2001, while crossing from a Tamil Tigers-controlled area to a Government-controlled area; thereafter she wore an eyepatch.

Marie Colvin had walked over 30 miles through the Vanni jungle with her Tamil guides to evade government troops; she reported on the humanitarian disaster in the northern Tamil region, including a government blockade of food, medical supplies and prevention of foreign journalist access to the area for six years to cover the war.

Marie Colvin was a witness and an intermediary during the final days of the war in Sri Lanka and reported on war crimes against Tamils that were committed during this phase.

For Gaddafi's first international interview since the start of the war, Marie Colvin took along Christiane Amanpour of ABC News and Jeremy Bowen of BBC News.

Marie Colvin twice married journalist Patrick Bishop; both marriages ended in divorce.

Marie Colvin married a Bolivian journalist, Juan Carlos Gumucio, a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Pais in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war.

Marie Colvin took his own life in February 2002 in Bolivia, following depression and alcoholism.

In February 2012, Marie Colvin crossed into Syria on the back of a motocross motorcycle, ignoring the Syrian government's attempts to prevent foreign journalists from entering Syria to cover the Syrian Civil War without authorization.

Marie Colvin was stationed in the western Baba Amr district of the city of Homs.

Marie Colvin reported that pro-Assad forces were repeatedly firing on her car with grenades and machine guns, forcing her to take cover in emptied buildings.

Marie Colvin described "merciless" shelling and sniper attacks against civilian buildings and people on the streets of Homs by Syrian forces, expressing immense shock at the utter disregard of the government troops for the lives of the city residents.

Marie Colvin's funeral took place in Oyster Bay, New York, on March 12,2012, in a service attended by 300 mourners including those who had followed her dispatches, friends and family.

Marie Colvin was cremated and half of her ashes were scattered off Long Island, and the other half on the River Thames, near her last home.

In July 2016, Cat Marie Colvin filed a civil action against the government of the Syrian Arab Republic for extrajudicial killing claiming she had obtained proof that the Syrian government had directly ordered Marie Colvin's targeted assassination.