US journalist Terry Anderson held in Lebanon hostage crisis for nearly 7 years
the former Mideast correspondent for The Associated Press who was kidnapped in 1985 and held captive for nearly seven years in Lebanon
Anderson died on Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, according to his daughter, Sulome Anderson.
“Though my father’s life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace
The cause of death was unknown, though his daughter told the AP he had recently had heart surgery.
The AP journalist worked out of Kentucky, Tokyo, South Africa and ultimately Lebanon, after he volunteered to go there in 1982 following Israel’s invasion
Anderson covered Lebanon’s civil war for The AP for three years before his capture in 1985. He was released in 1991, as the 16-year civil war ended.
That experience, as a combat correspondent, shaped Anderson before he left the military at age 23 as a staff sergeant. He’d also discovered his calling: journalism.
On December 4, 1991, he was taken from his holding room shortly after 6 a.m., handed to Syrian officers, and driven to Damascus.
Armed men grabbed him on a Beirut street, threw him into the trunk of a car and whisked him away.