Editor’s note: Daniel C. Snyder, a lecturer in East Asian studies at Stanford University, a former foreign correspondent and friend of Mike Shuster, was the Moscow bureau chief for Christian Science Monitor In the 1990s when Schuster was based there. This estimate provides:
Mike Schuster, an award-winning foreign correspondent and diplomat for National Public Radio, died Monday. During more than three decades as a reporter and editor, his work spanned the globe and made him an eyewitness to some of the most important events in modern history.
Schuster died at his home in Southern California due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, his family said. He was 76 years old.
Shuster had a long career, beginning in the early 1970s in Africa, where he spent five months covering the Angolan Civil War and traveling throughout the region, later working for the Liberation News Service.
He joined NPR in 1980 and hosted More than 3000 storieswith coverage covering the Gulf Wars, the conflicts in Israel and Palestine, the civil war in Bosnia, the war in Kosovo, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
As a senior diplomatic correspondent, Schuster covered nuclear nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Pacific region. He traveled frequently to Iran — at least seven times after 2004 — where he was one of the few American correspondents to spend significant time.
Schuster began his career with NPR in New York. In a now-famous case, his reporting on the trial of notorious mobster John Gotti led to a landmark court decision to relax the FCC’s ban on the broadcast of expletives after Shuster insisted that listeners needed to hear Gotti’s speeches recorded on FBI wiretaps .
He was posted to London in 1989. From there, he covered the unification of Germany, from the announcement of the opening of the Berlin Wall to the creation of that country’s common currency, which he later described as “the most extraordinary story in history.” my life.”
He traveled to Germany monthly during this time to trace the revolution, from the people’s euphoria over freedom of travel, to the decline of the Communist Party, to the first free elections in the newly independent country.
During his time in London, Schuster also covered the First Gulf War.
He had the opportunity to cover another historic moment when he moved to Moscow in 1991 as bureau chief for National Public Radio. He covered the end of Soviet communism, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rise of newly independent states. He traveled from the far reaches of Russia to civil war-torn Tajikistan.
As a diplomatic correspondent, Schuster helped shape NPR’s coverage of the Middle East, including coverage of the Second Gulf War and the war in Iraq. He often wrote from Israel, where he covered the war with Hezbollah in 2006, the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, and the second intifada that broke out in 2000.
He traveled extensively to Iran, starting in 2004, including field reporting on the 2009 Iranian elections and the massive protests that followed. His 2007 week-long series”Supporters of Ali“, explores the history of Shi’i faith and politics, offering a rare and comprehensive look at the complexities of the Islamic faith and its influence on the Western world.
Schuster has won numerous awards for his reporting. He was part of the NPR News team that received a Peabody Award for coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. He was also part of the NPR News teams that received Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for coverage of the Iraq War (2007 and 2004); September 11 and the war in Afghanistan (2003); and the Gulf War (1992).
In 2003, Schuster was honored for his series “The Middle East: A Century of Conflict” and received the Foreign Press Club’s Lowell Thomas Award and first in documentary reporting from the National Headlines Awards. He also received an honorable mention from the Overseas Press Club in 1999, and a SAJA Journalism Award in 1998.
After retiring from NPR in 2013, Schuster became a freelance producer and writer Great War Project, a website, blog, and podcast that chronicles the history and impact of World War I a century after its outbreak. He served on the President’s Centennial Commission on World War I. He has worked on numerous television series projects and was a senior fellow at the Burkell Center for International Relations at the University of California.
Schuster is survived by his long-time partner, Stephanie Boyd, his brother Lee Shuster, his nephew Corey Shuster and his niece Amanda Shuster.
He was born on July 7, 1947, in Philadelphia, the son of Maurice Merle Schuster and Beatrice Rita Gerber Schuster. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts.
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