Jim Avila, a veteran ABC News correspondent whose investigative reporting earned him some of broadcast journalism’s most prestigious awards, has died after a lengthy battle with illness, the network announced.
Avila, 69, died Wednesday at his home in San Diego, his family said.
“Jim was a gifted journalist and a generous colleague,” ABC News boss Almin Karamehmedovic said in an email to staff.
Avila faced health challenges “with courage,” ABC News said.
He received a kidney transplant donated by his brother in 2020 and left the network in 2021.
Avila worked at ABC News for nearly two decades as a Los Angeles-based senior correspondent who covered politics, justice, law and consumer investigations.
He also served as a “20/20” correspondent.
From 2012 to 2016, Avila covered the White House during President Barack Obama’s second term.
He won the prestigious Merriman Award from the White House Correspondents Association in 2015 for breaking the news that the United States and Cuba had reopened diplomatic relations.
His career spanned coverage of major trials including Jerry Sandusky, Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson.
He made multiple trips to the southern border to document immigration stories and covered the death of Freddie Gray and civil unrest in Baltimore.
Avila’s work earned him two National Emmy Awards and five Edward R. Murrow Awards, along with the Cine Golden Eagle Award, the Mongerson Prize for Investigative Reporting and five Chicago-area Emmy Awards in the category of Spot News.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists named him reporter of the year in 1999 and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2019.
Before joining ABC News in 2004, Avila worked as an investigative reporter for the local NBC station in Los Angeles, where his coverage of the OJ Simpson murder case helped the station win an Emmy Award in 1996.
Two years after leaving ABC News, Avila returned to journalism in 2023 as a senior investigative reporter at KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San Diego.
When asked why he came back to work, Avila told the Times of San Diego that “retirement was boring.”
“I’ve been to every state in the country and every continent except Antarctica. I’ve covered the White House, wars, mass shootings,” he said in January 2024.
“I still want to make an impact in news and San Diego is a good place to do it.”
At the time, Avila wrote that KGTV represented the “final phase of my 50-year career in broadcasting, spanning both radio and TV.”
Tributes poured in Thursday from colleagues and friends.
“He was such a presence and true old school journalist,” TV news anchor Scott Thuman wrote on Instagram.
“His legacy will live on well beyond today. I hope his family and friends find peace.”
Anchor Frank Buckley wrote: “One of the greats in broadcast journalism has passed. Jim Avila, former correspondent for @ABC@NBCNews, a Cubs fan, and one of my close friends with whom I had too many nights out to count was someone who cared deeply about journalism, his friends, his family. I will miss him.”
“We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, including his three children, Jamie, Jenny, and Evan, and we thank him for his many contributions and unwavering commitment to seeking out the truth,” Karamehmedovic said.
