Marie Colvin was born on January 12, 1956, in New York and grew up in Oyster Bay, Long Island. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Yale University, where she began her journalism journey by writing for the Yale Daily News. Upon graduating from Yale in 1978, Marie’s first role was as a reporter for the Teamsters Union magazine. In 1982, she joined United Press International (UPI) in New Jersey as a local news reporter. Marie later advanced to become the UPI Foreign Desk Editor and then the Paris Bureau Chief. Eventually, she accepted an offer to work for The Sunday Times in the UK, where she would remain for the rest of her career.

When Marie started started with her role at United Press International, it marked her first deep engagement with the Middle East—a region whose rich culture, complex politics, and ongoing conflicts captivated her interest.

When she made the leap to the Sunday Times of London. Over the next 26 years, Marie became a globetrotting reporter, covering conflicts from East Timor to the Balkans, Chechnya, Kosovo, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Somalia. However, her reputation was particularly cemented by her in-depth reporting from the Middle East. Marie was right there in the thick of it, chronicling the saga of the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1980s, navigating the turbulent waters of two US wars with Iraq, and ultimately witnessing the explosive 2011 revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria.

Marie engaged with heads of state and military leaders across numerous nations, yet her pen frequently focused on the harrowing effects of war on everyday people. Recognized for her heroism, she played a crucial role in safeguarding the lives of 1,500 women and children confined within a United Nations compound by Indonesian-backed forces. Unlike others who departed when UN personnel and journalists evacuated, Marie stood her ground, persistently transmitting updates from inside the compound. Her poignant coverage brought global attention to the refugees' dire circumstances. Ashamed by Marie's compelling reports, the UN ultimately reversed its decision and ensured the safe evacuation of these innocent souls.

Marie pioneered the path for women in war reporting, inspired by the legacy of war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, who motivated her to pursue journalism. Facing many obstacles as a female reporter on the front lines, Marie focused her coverage on the innocent victims of conflict, especially women and children. Describing her approach to the American Journalism Review in 2000, she explained that she would “go in bare and eat what they eat, drink what they drink, sleep where they sleep.”

In 2001, while reporting in Sri Lanka, Marie was blinded in one eye after being hit by a grenade launched by a government soldier, resulting in a severe injury. Following a difficult recovery, she resumed her journalism career, now distinguished by her signature eye-patch.

Following the outbreak of the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, Marie and photographer Paul Conroy journeyed to Libya, Egypt, and Syria to document the ongoing events. Having reported on conflicts in Chechnya, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Libya, Colvin referred to the 2012 bombardment of Homs, Syria, as the most devastating war zone she had encountered. She was killed in a deliberate artillery strike by Syrian government forces on February 22, 2012.

Reflecting on her career, Marie expressed, “I did not set out to be a war correspondent.  It has always seemed to me that what I write about is humanity in extremis, pushed to the unendurable, and that it is important to tell people what really happens in wars ” Throughout her life, Marie dedicated herself to unveiling the harsh realities of conflict and giving a voice to its overlooked victims.

The Marie Colvin Memorial Foundation was created to preserve Marie’s legacy by championing her values – the impactful role of journalism in driving positive change and confronting the injustice faced by innocent victims of war.