Ann Cottrell Free

Ann Cottrell Free was born in Richmond, Virginia on June 4, 1916. A graduate of
Collegiate School and Barnard College, she became the first woman Washington correspondent for the "New York Herald Tribune", "Newsweek" and the "Chicago Sun", where she covered First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and wartime-Washington. [ "Washington Post", October 31, 2004, [http://www.anncottrellfree.org/washpostobit.htm obituary by Patricia Sullivan] .] [ [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2004/10/31/ann_cottrell_free_longtime_journalist/ Associated Press obituary] , October 31, 2004] [ "Chicago Sun-Times", November 1, 2004 [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20041101/ai_n12566793 obituary by Dan Rozak] .]

After the war she served in China as a special correspondent for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and in Europe for the Marshall Plan. She later wrote for the North American Newspaper Alliance and was a contributing columnist to the "Washington Post", the "Washington Star", other newspapers and syndicates. An Albert Schweitzer Medalist, she was also the recipient of a variety of humanitarian and writing awards for her novel, "Forever the Wild Mare", as well as her other animal writing.

She initiated the establishment of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and presented testimony on numerous animal protection issues to Congressional committees.

She authored three books, "Forever the Wild Mare" (Dodd Mead 1963), "No Room, Save in the Heart" (Flying Fox Press 1987) and "Animals, Nature and Albert Schweitzer" (Flying Fox Press, 2000). She received the Rachel Carson Legacy Award in 1988 and in 1996 was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.

She was married to journalist James S. Free, and, for a time, they co-authored "Whirligig", a syndicated column about Washington politics.

Her oral histories are in the collections of Columbia University and the National Press Club. She died on October 30, 2004 at the age of 88 in Washington D.C. A year later, the National Press Club Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting Award was established to inspire and encourage other journalists to follow in her footsteps. [ [http://www.press.org/activities/programs/awards/awardsform.pdf Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting Award] , Journalism Awards, National Press Club]

Notes

References

*Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, 1996
*"Collegiate Spark", Spring 1991
*"Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly", Winter 2005, Volume 54, Number 1

External links

* [http://www.anncottrellfree.org AnnCottrellFree.org]
* [http://press.org/library/archives_oralhistory.cfm National Press Club Oral History Collection]
* [http://wpcf.org/oralhistory/group.html Washington Press Club Foundation Oral History Project]
* [http://www.anncottrellfree.org/pdfs/tellingtheirstory.pdf Animal Advocates Oral History Project]