James Foley

Born: October 18, 1973

Died: August 19, 2014

The principles James Foley stood for are in need today. Our neighbors are increasingly valued by the extent of their similarity to ourselves. The damages of division and indifference are pushing deeper. Foley fought for compassion. He is a reminder to go to the margins and look deeply at the wounds of injustice yet hold steadfast to a deep, enduring hope for change.

Foley grew up in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, the oldest of John and Diane Foley’s five children. While studying history at Marquette University and playing for the school’s rugby team Foley came face-to-face with marginalized people. “With Marquette, I went on some volunteer trips to South Dakota and Mississippi and learned I was a sheltered kid and the world had real problems,” he wrote in a 2011 letter to the university.

After graduation Foley bounced around jobs but always found a home working alongside those on the margins. He taught in inner-city Phoenix schools for Teach for America and helped unwed mothers in Massachusetts earn GEDs while completing his master’s degree in writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The desire to tell meaningful stories pushed him to what he described as his calling: journalism. In 2008 he earned a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Conflict journalism became a way for Foley to marry his passions for social justice and storytelling. His photos and videos documented the lives of fighters and families alike. His work told the story of what happened between the bursts of gunfire—the families whose lives were forever altered, the soldiers whose dreams of a better future compelled them to risk their lives.

—Wyatt Massey