ROBERT FISK, VETERAN BRITISH FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, DIES AGED 74

The veteran British foreign correspondent Robert Fisk has died at the age of 74.

The journalist and author was reportedly admitted to St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin after becoming unwell on Friday. A source at the Independent, where Fisk was Middle East correspondent, confirmed the news of his death.

Fisk was admitted to hospital after suffering a suspected stroke, according to a report in the Irish Times.

Described by the New York Times in 2005 as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain”, Fisk won many prestigious awards over the span of his career for his coverage of the Middle East.

He covered key events in the 1970s and 1980s including the Iranian revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War. He then joined The Independent, who he worked for until his death, and was one of the only Western journalists to interview al-Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, before September 11, 2001.

Outside of the Middle East, Fisk also covered The Troubles in Belfast early in his career, and later the Bosnian and Kosovan wars in the Balkans.

In 2005, the New York Times described him as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain.” He received the Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year seven times.

“Fearless, uncompromising, determined and utterly committed to uncovering the truth and reality at all costs, Robert Fisk was the greatest journalist of his generation. The fire he lit at The Independent will burn on,” wrote The Independent managing director Christian Broughton in the paper.

Fisk was born in Kent, England, but later acquired Irish citizenship. He married fellow journalist Lara Marlowe in 1994, but they divorced in 2006. He had no children.

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