Slain Photojournalist James Foley Remembered in Chicago with Respect and Admiration

James Foley | Family handout photo

Friends, classmates and colleagues of slain photojournalist James Foley, who earned a degree in Chicago and taught here as well, remember him as a likable man of good humor, guts, passion and compassion who put himself in harm’s way to help people others regarded as “disposable.”

Foley was beheaded by terrorists after 636 days in captivity. The Islamic State terrorist group posted a video of the killing on YouTube on Tuesday. President Obama spoke of the killing on Wednesday.

“The whole world is appalled by the brutal murder of James Foley,” Obama said. “When people harm Americans, anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done.”

In the Chicago area, where Foley earned a masters degree in journalism at Northwestern University, his teachers and classmates reflected on the meaning of his work both at home and abroad.

“He left one hell of an impression on me,” Stephan Garnett, an instructor at the Medill School of Journalism who had Foley in a class, told the Chicago Tribune. “He was a person who had a lot of guts, I tell you that.”

Foley, who lived in Chicago’s Pilsen community, worked at the Cook County Sheriff’s boot camp program for four years while he studied for his degree at the Medill School of Journalism. Foley spoke Spanish and taught reading and writing to prisoners.

“He believed passionately in education and its ability to reduce recidivism,” said Cara Smith, executive director of the Cook County Jail

Sheriff Tom Dart released a statement Wednesday after learning of Foley’s death.

“It is with great shock and sadness that we learned of the murder of James Foley who worked as a counselor at our CCDOC boot camp. We join the country in being outraged at the events surrounding his death. Jim dedicated his life to serving others and effecting change. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his service and for all he did while working with us and for all he did to shine a light on the injustices and suffering in the world. Today and in the days and weeks to come, his family and friends, including his close friends here in our office, will be in our thoughts and prayers.”

In 2011, Foley, a New Hampshire native, returned to Northwestern to speak with students after several years of reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, where he experienced his first capture while in a war zone. He was freed from Libya after 44 days in captivity. Foley spoke of the risks he faced reporting from lands occupied by terrorists.

“It’s not worth your life. It’s not worth seeing your mother, father, brother and sister bawling. It’s not worth these things,” he said. “I should have known that a long time ago.”

A year later, he would depart for Syria — described now as “the world’s most dangerous place for journalists” in a Vanity Fair magazine story that noted more than five dozen journalists had been killed there. Foley, 40, worked for the GlobalPost when he went missing on Thanksgiving Day 2012 in Syria.

Kelly Janowski, a Medill classmate of Foley’s, blogs at Kelly the Culinarian. She posted a few thoughts on Wednesday about the man who shared classes with her and edited her work.

“He was always quick to smile and faced challenges with an easy demeanor that caught on to everyone he met,” she wrote. “This kid was easily the bravest reporter I encountered in my time at Medill — after graduation, he took to the Middle East, fearlessly working to bring to light the tales of atrocities a world away.”

Medill is planning a memorial and tribute to Foley, according to CLTV.

» Video: Jim Foley Speaks to Medill in 2011, via the Chicago Tribune

» Jim Foley’s Family Confirms His Death, via Syracuse.com

» Free Jim Foley Facebook page

JIM FOLEY’S WORK: INSIDE A TALIBAN AMBUSH IN AFGHANISTAN