Victor Simpson, Longtime AP Rome Bureau Chief and Vatican Correspondent, Dies at 84
Victor L. Simpson, a veteran Associated Press Rome bureau chief and foreign correspondent, has passed away at the age of 84 due to cancer at his home in Rome. Simpson's career with the AP spanned 46 years, during which he covered a wide array of significant global events. His extensive reporting included the 1967 Newark, New Jersey, race riots, conflicts in the Middle East, and the papacies of five popes, most notably accompanying Pope John Paul II on dozens of international trips. Simpson joined the AP in Newark in 1967, where he earned an award for his series on organized crime, before moving to the General Desk and then the Foreign Desk. He was assigned to Rome in 1972, eventually becoming the Rome bureau chief in 2005. His life was also marked by profound personal tragedies, including the shooting death of his father and the killing of his 11-year-old daughter, Natasha, in a 1985 airport attack.
