\n

Harry Koundakjian, former Associated Press photographer and photo editor, dead at 83 –

\n

\n

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Former Associated Press photographer and photo editor Harry Koundakjian (KOON’-jah-kee-ehn), who spent years covering the Middle East before working in New York City, has died. He was 83.

\n

His daughter, Lola, said he died Monday at a Manhattan hospital, from complications of open heart surgery in February.

\n

Koundakjian was born in Syria and finished high school in Lebanon. He began work for the AP in Lebanon in the 1960s, first as a freelancer and then as a staffer.

\n

He photographed news events throughout the Middle East and Europe, including war in Lebanon, the Olympics in Germany and the wedding of King Hussein of Jordan to Queen Noor.

\n

In 1979, he and his family moved to New York, where he was a photo editor for the AP until his retirement in 2006.

\n