Steven R. Hurst, who spent a decades-long career in journalism covering major world events, including the end of the Soviet Union and the Iraq War, while working for news outlets including The Associated Press, NBC and CNN, has died. He was 77.
Hurst, who retired from AP in 2016, died sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning at his home in Decatur, Ill., his daughter, Ellen Hurst, said Friday. She said his family did not know the cause of death but said he had congestive heart failure.
“Steve had a front-row seat to some of the most important global stories, and he cared deeply about making sure people around the world understood the history unfolding before them,” said Julie Pace, AP’s editor-in-chief and senior vice -president. he was also a masterclass in how to get to the heart of a story and win the biggest news.
He first joined the AP in 1976 as a correspondent in Columbus, Ohio, after working at the Decatur Herald and Review in Illinois. The following year he went to work for AP in Washington and then to the international department before being sent to Moscow in 1979. He then spent a short period in Turkey before returning to Moscow in 1981 as bureau chief.
He left AP in the mid-1980s and worked for NBC and then CNN.
Reflecting on his post-retirement career, Hurst said in Connecting, a newsletter distributed by a retired AP journalist to current and former AP employees, that a high point in his career came when he covered the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 while working for CNN.
“I interviewed Boris Yeltsin live at the Russian White House as he was about to become the new leader, before heading to the Kremlin with a police escort where we reported live to Mikhail Gorbachev and signed the papers that declared the Soviet Union disbanded,” Hurst said. “Then I interviewed Gorbachev live in his office.”
Hurst returned to AP in 2000, eventually becoming assistant international editor in New York. Prior to his appointment as Iraq bureau chief in 2006, Hurst had moved in and out of Baghdad as editor-in-chief for three years and also wrote from Cairo, Egypt, where he was briefly based.
He spent the last eight years of his career in Washington, writing about American politics and government.
Born March 13, 1947, Hurst grew up in Decatur and graduated from Millikin University, which is located there. He also earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Ellen Hurst said her father was funny, smart, and “a great storyteller.”
“He had seen so much,” she said.
She said his career as a journalist allowed him to see the world, and his work gave him great insight into how major events affected individual people.
“He was very sympathetic to people all over the world and I think having an experience as a journalist really enhanced that,” Ellen Hurst said.
His wife Kathy Beaman died shortly after Hurst retired. In addition to his daughter, Ellen Hurst, he is survived by daughters Sally Hurst and Anne Alavi and four grandchildren.
“In addition to his distinguished career, Steve was a consummate gentleman who treated everyone around him with respect and kindness,” said Ken Guggenheim, news editor in AP’s Washington bureau. “I especially remember his care and support for his wife Kathy during her difficult battle with cancer and how proud he was of his daughters.”