Charles Lewis, former DC chief at AP and Hearst, has died

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Charles Lewis, a former Washington bureau chief for The Associated Press and The Hearst Newspapers who advocated for the release of AP journalist Terry Anderson from kidnappers in Lebanon, died Saturday. He was 80.

Lewis, of Arlington, Virginia, died at a hospital from complications from cancer.

Open and friendly as a newsman, but tough and by the book in his personnel duties, Lewis was a journalist for four decades. He became known for his dedication to Anderson’s release even when it meant walking a fine line at times.

He had been AP’s bureau chief in Washington for a year when Anderson, the news organization’s chief Middle East correspondent, was abducted from the streets of Beirut in 1985 in the midst of the country’s civil war, thrusting Lewis in the middle of often tense and sensitive U.S. efforts to get Anderson released.

As part of an effort to help Anderson and other Western hostages believed to be held in Lebanon, Lewis sought help from the White House, which directed him to Lt. Col. Oliver North, the White House aide who was the point man on the hostage negotiations.

Lewis campaigned internationally with Anderson’s sister, Peggy Say, with AP support to seek Anderson’s freedom, including several meetings with North.

That stirred complaints from two AP Washington reporters who later said they felt Lewis held them back on their early reporting on North’s shadowy contacts with Nicaraguan contras. Anderson was finally released in 1991.