Jim Avila, ABC News correspondent, dead at 69 – Business News
Jim Avila, a veteran ABC News correspondent whose investigative reporting earned him some of broadcast journalism’s most prestigious awards, has died after a prolonged battle with sickness, the community introduced.
Avila, 69, died Wednesday at his home in San (*69*), his household mentioned.
“Jim was a gifted journalist and a generous colleague,” ABC News boss Almin Karamehmedovic mentioned in an e mail to workers.
Jim Avila, a veteran ABC News correspondent whose investigative reporting earned him some of broadcast journalism’s most prestigious awards, has died after a prolonged battle with sickness, the community introduced. X/@JimAvilaABC
Avila confronted health challenges “with courage,” ABC News mentioned.
He acquired a kidney transplant donated by his brother in 2020 and left the community in 2021.
Avila labored at ABC News for practically twenty years as a Los Angeles-based senior correspondent who coated politics, justice, law and shopper investigations.
He additionally served as a “20/20” correspondent.
From 2012 to 2016, Avila coated the White House during President Barack Obama’s second time period.
He received the celebrated Merriman Award from the White House Correspondents Association in 2015 for breaking the information that the United States and Cuba had reopened diplomatic relations.
His profession spanned protection of main trials together with Jerry Sandusky, Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson.
Avila (left), 69, died Wednesday at his home in San (*69*), his household mentioned. X/@JimAvilaABC
He made a number of journeys to the southern border to doc immigration tales and coated the death of Freddie Gray and civil unrest in Baltimore.
Avila’s work earned him two National Emmy Awards and 5 Edward R. Murrow Awards, together with the Cine Golden Eagle Award, the Mongerson Prize for Investigative Reporting and 5 Chicago-area Emmy Awards within the class of Spot News.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists named him reporter of the yr in 1999 and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2019.
Before becoming a member of ABC News in 2004, Avila labored as an investigative reporter for the native NBC station in Los Angeles, the place his protection of the OJ Simpson homicide case helped the station win an Emmy Award in 1996.
Avila labored at ABC News for practically twenty years as a Los Angeles-based senior correspondent. X/@JimAvilaABC
Two years after leaving ABC News, Avila returned to journalism in 2023 as a senior investigative reporter at KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San (*69*).
When requested why he got here back to work, Avila instructed the Times of San (*69*) that “retirement was boring.”
“I’ve been to every state in the country and every continent except Antarctica. I’ve covered the White House, wars, mass shootings,” he mentioned in January 2024.
“I still want to make an impact in news and San Diego is a good place to do it.”
At the time, Avila wrote that KGTV represented the “final phase of my 50-year career in broadcasting, spanning both radio and TV.”
Tributes poured in Thursday from colleagues and mates.
Avila confronted health challenges “with courage,” ABC News mentioned. He acquired a kidney transplant donated by his brother in 2020 and left the community in 2021. X/@JimAvilaABC
“He was such a presence and true old school journalist,” TV information anchor Scott Thuman wrote on Instagram.
“His legacy will live on well beyond today. I hope his family and friends find peace.”
Anchor Frank Buckley wrote: “One of the greats in broadcast journalism has passed. Jim Avila, former correspondent for @ABC@NBCNews, a Cubs fan, and one of my close friends with whom I had too many nights out to count was someone who cared deeply about journalism, his friends, his family. I will miss him.”
“We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, including his three children, Jamie, Jenny, and Evan, and we thank him for his many contributions and unwavering commitment to seeking out the truth,” Karamehmedovic mentioned.
