August 23, 2008
Leroy Sievers, great blog
Editor’s Note: Leroy Sievers passed away on August 15, 2008, at the age of 53.In May 2006, Leroy Sievers began a Morning Edition commentary on his fight with cancer by saying, “My doctors are trying to kill me.” For more than two years since, Sievers contributed a monthly commentary to Morning Edition, wrote the daily “My Cancer” blog on NPR.org and voiced a weekly podcast.Sievers was a journalist for more than 25 years. He worked at ABC News’ Nightline for 14 years, the last four as executive producer. Prior to that, Sievers worked at CBS News for almost ten years. During his career, he covered more than a dozen wars, including Desert Storm, Rwanda, Somalia, Kosovo, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and many others. During the invasion of Iraq, he was an embedded journalist with Ted Koppel. Sievers was also responsible for “The Fallen,” Nightline’s tribute to those who died in the war in Iraq.Sievers won 12 national news Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards. Since leaving Nightline, Sievers was a guest lecturer at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, and has traveled to Africa for Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group.
