Former ABC News Correspondent Jim Avila Dead at 69

Former ABC News correspondent Jim Avila, who won several prestigious awards for investigative journalism, has died. He was 69.

ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic announced Avila’s death after a long illness. “Jim was a gifted journalist and a generous colleague,” Karamehmedovic said in an internal email to staff.

Even after his health challenges began, Avila “continued to contribute to journalism through opinion writing and local reporting, sharing his experience and deep curiosity to tell the stories that mattered most to his community and viewers,” the email said.

ABC News anchor Diane Macedo also announced Avila’s death on Thursday, saying he “passed away after a long illness” and that he had received “a kidney transplant donated by his brother.” She said he handled his health issues “with courage.”

Avila spent nearly two decades as a correspondent in Los Angeles before covering the White House. He won the Merriman Award in 2015 for breaking the news that the United States and Cuba had reopened diplomatic relations.

At the time, the White House Correspondents’ Association said of him, “From tight, breathless morning reports where every word was news, to relaxed man-on-the-street evening interviews, Avila told the whole story on merciless deadlines.”

“That’s the sort of excellence in presidential news coverage under deadline pressure that the Merriman Smith Award is meant to honor.”

His ABC News official biography noted that as the Senior Law and Justice Correspondent for the network, “he has covered every major trial from Jerry Sandusky and Penn State to Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson and countless others. He led reports on immigration, making several trips to the southern border to document stories of immigrants, and also covered the death of Freddie Gray and civil unrest in Baltimore.”

In addition to the Merriman Award, he also earned many others, including two National Emmy Awards and five Edward R. Murrow Awards. He won the Cine Golden Eagle Award, the Mongerson Prize for Investigative Reporting and five Chicago-area Emmy Awards in the category of Spot News. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists honored him with reporter of the year in 1999.

Avila was most recently a senior investigative reporter at KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San Diego.

“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 said.