Funeral Held In Oyster Bay For Journalist Marie Colvin Slain In Syria
OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A prominent war correspondent killed while on assignment last month in Syria will be laid to rest Monday in Oyster Bay.
WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs In Oyster Bay
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Marie Colvin, an award-winning journalist who worked for Britain's The Sunday Times, died on Feb. 22 from government shelling in the city of Homs.
Colvin, 56, grew up in Oyster Bay. She was one of five children and graduated from Oyster Bay High School in 1974 and then went to Yale. She was an anthropology major and it wasn't until after she attended a journalism seminar at Yale that she developed her passion for reporting.
Colvin had been working for The Sunday Times for more than 25 years. She was at the forefront of international reporting and lost her eye from a shrapnel wound in Sri Lanka in 2001.
A giant American flag was hung across Main Street in Oyster Bay to honor the slain journalist in the town where she grew up.
Colvin was remembered in a funeral Mass at St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church.
Her final report from Syria, chronicled what she called "The widows' basement," a cellar where women and children seek refuge from bombing in the same city where Colvin herself would later be killed.
Hours before she was killed, Colvin appeared on a live broadcast with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who asked her to compare the fighting in Syria with some of her other war assignments.
"The Syrian army is basically shelling a city of cold, starving civilians," she said. "Every civilian house on the street has been hit."
As Colvin described the destruction throughout the city, she said the building where she was staying was also hit.
Colvin is survived by two brothers, two sisters, and her mother.
Colvin's family want her lifelong dedication to human rights, journalism and education to continue and has set up a fund at the Long Island Community Foundation.
Donations have already been received from around the country.
If you'd like to help, please send donations to:
Marie Colvin Fund at LICF
1864 Muttontown Road
Syosset, NY 11791
For more information about the fund, visit www.licf.org.
