Charlie Cole (February 28, 1955 – September 5, 2019) was an American photojournalist, one of the five photographers who captured the iconic image of the Tank Man during the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. Cole was born in 1955 in

Bonham, Texas Bonham is a city and the county seat of Fannin County, Texas. The population was 10,408 at the 2020 census. James Bonham (the city's namesake) sought the aid of James Fannin (the county's namesake) at the Battle of the Alamo. Bonham is part of the ...

, United States.Charlie Cole
worldpressphoto.org, access date June 2, 2015 He moved to Japan in 1980, where he worked for magazines and newspapers including ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He won the 1989

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Netherlands, Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, The World Press Pho ...

for a photo of the Tank Man during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, which was taken from a hotel balcony. Cole hid the film roll containing the Tank Man picture in a toilet tank while his hotel room was searched by the

Public Security Bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...

, later retrieving it to be sent to the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. Cole lived in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia, for more than 15 years. He died at his home there from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

on September 5, 2019.

References

External links

Charlie Cole Photography
1955 births 2019 deaths American photojournalists American expatriates in Japan American emigrants to Indonesia Deaths from sepsis People from Bonham, Texas Photographers from Texas 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre {{US-photographer-stub