Press Release
August 8, 2005
NAHJ Mourns Passing of Peter Jennings and Akilah Amapindi
Media Contact: Daniela Montalvo (202) 662-7152
Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists mourns the passing of veteran journalist Peter Jennings and student journalist Akilah Amapindi, who both died on Aug. 7.
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Jennings, 67, anchored ABC’s evening newscasts for 22 years. On April 5, 2005, he publicly announced his diagnosis of lung cancer. He died from the disease at his home in New York City.
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| Amapindi, 23, was a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and fell ill while attending the association’s convention. She was working on the convention's radio news project. It is believed the young journalist contracted malaria while working as a radio anchor in Africa earlier this summer. She died at a hospital in Atlanta, GA.
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NAHJ will make a donation to the Akilah Amapindi Memorial Fund set up by NABJ to aid Amapindi’s family. To donate, please send a check made out to NABJ to:
Akilah Amapindi Memorial Fund
c/o NABJ
8701-A Adelphi Road
Adelphi, MD 20783-1716
Phone: (301) 445-7100
For more information on the Akilah Amapindi Memorial Fund, please visit www.nabj.org. To make a donation in memory of Peter Jennings, visit www.abcnews.go.com.
Founded in 1984, NAHJ's mission is to increase the percentage of Latinos working in our nation's newsrooms and to improve news coverage of the Latino community. NAHJ is the nation's largest professional organization for Latino journalists with more than 2,300 members working in English and Spanish-language print, photo, broadcast and online media.
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