Veteran Reuters Political Reporter Pat Heffernan Dies at 96

By: E&P Staff Longtime Reuters journalist John W. "Pat" Heffernan died Tuesday at 96, according to the news agency.

Heffernan, an Englishman, started at Reuters in the U.S. in 1946, and eventually became the only foreign-born president of the National Press Club in Washington. He covered the United Nations for the news agency for 11 years, and he was the chief Washington correspondent for Reuters for 20 years.

Heffernan's election as president of the National Press Club required Congress to pass an act allowing a non-U.S. citizen to head a company that held a liquor license. He eventually became a U.S. citizen in 1996.