NY Times Reporter Anthony Shadid Dies In Syria

Anthony Shadid, an author, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times correspondent, died Thursday in eastern Syria after suffering an asthma attack apparently triggered by horses. Shadid, 43, was smuggled into Syria along with Times photographer Tyler Hicks last week to cover the resistance Bashar al-Assad. The men met with guides on horseback for the trip back over the border to Turkey Thursday morning when Shadid collapsed.

"I stood next to him and asked if he was OK, and then he collapsed," Hicks told the Times.

Hicks carried Shadid’s body into Turkey. Shadid's father, Buddy Shadid, told The Associated Press his son was always “more allergic” to horses.

Shadid reported on the Middle East for nearly 20 years. Before working for the New York Times, he worked for the Associated Press, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Shadid won Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in 2004 and 2010. He has two published books, "Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats and the New Politics of Islam" and "Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War," and a third, “House Of Stone,” is due to be published next month by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

"Anthony was one of our generation's finest reporters. He was also an exceptionally kind and generous human being. He brought to his readers an up-close look at the globe's many war-torn regions, often at great personal risk. We were fortunate to have Anthony as a colleague, and we mourn his death,” Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger said in a statement.

Shadid is survived by his wife, Nada Bakri, and two children.

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