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Remembering Journalist James Foley

by Legacy Staff

Photojournalist James Foley was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012. Two years later he was killed, beheaded on video by members of the Islamic State.

Photojournalist James Foley was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012. Two years later he was killed, beheaded on video by members of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh. Learn more about Foley, watch his parents’ press conference and a 2011 talk by Foley himself, and read how family, friends, and others reacted to the news of his tragic death.

James Foley Remembered as ‘A Man of Incredible Bravery’ It was the news that friends, family, and colleagues of abducted American journalist James Foley hoped would never come. When militants claimed Tuesday they had killed the freelance war correspondent in a brutal beheading as revenge against U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, remembrances of a man who was warm, funny, and dedicated to his profession poured in. Read more

Remembering Slain Journalist James Foley James Foley was passionate about reporting from conflict zones and finding stories that may have otherwise gone untold. “We’re not close enough to it and if reporters, if we don’t try to get really close to what these guys … we don’t understand the world, essentially.” Foley began his career as a teacher, working to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth. Read more

You Know How James Foley Died. This Is How He Lived. When we think of James Wright Foley now, one image is seared into our collective memory: a screenshot from a video, a prisoner on the verge of death. How he lived his life is so much more important than those last moments. Read more

Father of James Foley: ‘We know Jimmy’s free. He’s finally free’ Diane Foley said her son was drawn to conflict journalism in part because several of his brothers were serving in the military. “Jim wanted to be there,” she said, noting that one of his first assignments was in Afghanistan where one of his brothers was serving in the Air Force at the time. “He wanted to cover what was happening at the human level.” Read more

The Horror Before the Beheadings: ISIS Hostages Endured Torture and Dashed Hopes, Freed Cellmates Say James Foley returned to the cell he shared with nearly two dozen other Western hostages and collapsed in tears of joy. The questions his kidnappers had asked were so personal (“Who cried at your brother’s wedding?” “Who was the captain of your high school soccer team?”) that he knew they were finally in touch with his family. Read more

How a Documentary on Slain Journalist James Foley Reclaims His Legacy Jim is a far cry from the kind of documentary that you’d expect about a man whose name has become synonymous with our politically fraught age of terror… It’s simply one man’s deeply affectionate and transparently personal attempt to reclaim a man he loved from the grave robbers of history — the film is called “Jim,” because that’s what director Brian Oakes always called his childhood best friend. Read more

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