RIP James Foley.

This description of him brings to mind Willa Cather's fictional Claude Wheeler, from One of Ours. (Pulitzer aside, Hemingway said the book went south once Cather took Claude off the farm, as her war scenes were romantically unrealistic.*)

Foley, who grew up in New Hampshire, came to journalism as a second career. With a bachelor’s degree in history from Marquette University and an MFA in creative writing from UMass, Amherst, Foley instructed inner-city students in Phoenix, AZ with Teach for America and then taught reading and writing to inmates at the Cook County Sheriff’s Boot Camp in Chicago. Then, at age 35, he enrolled in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Asked what had drawn her son into reporting, Diane Foley said, “He had started writing fiction when at UMass, but afterward, the more he worked with the disadvantaged in Phoenix and Chicago, which he also was passionate about, he realized that the stories he wanted to tell were real stories—stories about people’s lives—and he saw journalism as a vehicle for talking about what’s really happening in the world.”

Foley participated in Medill’s conflict reporting course in Washington, DC, and after graduation, his first assignment was as an embed with the US Army’s 173rd Brigade and 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan. He loved it, and even after the kidnapping in Libya, remained committed to covering conflicts.

“Before leaving for Syria this last time, Jim said that he finally had found his passion,” said Foley’s father, John, on Friday. “Journalists play a vital role in bringing the light of truth to darkness of war and suffering. We are proud of Jim’s commitment to his work. Jim convinced us that on the ground reporting was one of the best ways to let the world know the truth.”

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* In a letter to Edmund Wilson, he wrote:

"Wasn't that last scene in the [battle] lines wonderful? Do you know where it came from? The battle scene in Birth of a Nation. I identified episode after episode, Catherized. Poor woman, she had to get her war experience somewhere."