Paul Vathis

Paul Vathis (October 18, 1925 – December 10, 2002) was an American photojournalist. He was a photographer for the Associated Press for 56 years.

Life

He was one of eight children of Greek immigrant parents in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania in present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. He got his start in World War II. He was a World War II Marine combat veteran, where he shot bomb damage pictures of South Pacific island caves. Before the war he had never even held a camera before. He was married to Barbara Vathis and had three children Victoria, Randy, and Stephanie. He died at age 77 in his home.

Career
"Serious Steps", Vathis's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph

He joined the AP in Philadelphia, in 1946; he spent most of his career at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania bureau of the AP, starting in 1952.

In 1962, he took a picture of President John F. Kennedy and former President Dwight Eisenhower walking together at Camp David.[1] He covered such events as Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point basketball game in 1962, where he originally was just taking his son Randy to see a game, and the Budd Dwyer suicide in 1987 at the Harrisburg capitol building.[2] In 1979, he helped cover the nation's worst nuclear power accident at Three Mile Island.[3] [4] He died in 2002 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Awards

References
  1. "Paul Vathis; Won Pulitzer For Photo at Camp David - The Washington Post | Encyclopedia.com". Archived from the original on 2010-07-31.
  2. "R. Budd Dwyer - Suicide Live on Tape". Archived from the original on 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
  3. Peter Jackson (December 11, 2002). "Obituary: Paul Vathis / Associated Press photographer for more than 50 years". The Associated Press.
  4. "Paul Vathis, 77, Photographer Who Won a Pulitzer Prize". The New York Times. December 11, 2002.


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