Reporter Kurt Schork and cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora were shot to death in an ambush in Sierra Leone, May 24th, 2000.

Kurt, who worked for the Reuters News Agency, was both an unnerving rival and a moral beacon to correspondents wherever he travelled.

Legendary for his blunt reports from the most dangerous and difficult stories, Kurt was simply the best at what he did.

Half of Kurt's ashes were buried next to his mother, Margaret, on May 31, 2000 near Washington, D.C.. Kurt's remaining ashes were buried in Sarajevo on August 2, 2000. The grave lies next to those of two lovers, whose deaths Kurt wrote poignantly about in 1993.

Please take the time to read the impassioned words his friends and colleagues have posted about him, or add your own story or thought about Kurt for others to remember him by.

The Kurt Schork Memorial Fund (KSMF) has been established under the auspices of Columbia University. The fund will award two reporters each year -- one award will go to a freelance foreign correspondent, while the second will be for a reporter in a developing country covering a controversial issue for the local press. Learn more at www.ksmfund.org. There is also information about the Kurt Schork Awards on the Columbia School of Journalism Web site.

The fund is building a $2 million endowment to ensure that the awards and scholarships that bear Kurt's name will be around for many years to come. If you would like to contribute see the KSMF Web site or e-mail Lisa Stone, Kurt's sister, or Sabina Cosic, Kurt's girlfriend.

During the darkest days of the siege of Sarajevo, Kurt would often play Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms on a small portable CD player. To the friends who were there with Kurt in 1992 and 1993, it is a kind of anthem. Download the song (4.5MB) and listen for yourself or read the lyrics.