R. W. Apple Jr.

October 5, 2006
R. W. Apple Jr., Globe-Trotter for The Times and a Journalist in Full, Dies at 71
By Todd S. Purdum
R. W. Apple Jr., who in more than 40 years as a correspondent and editor at The New York Times wrote from more than 100 countries about war and revolution, politics and government, food and drink, and the revenge of living well, died yesterday in Washington. He was 71. The cause was complications of thoracic cancer. For his 70th birthday, he gathered friends at the Paris bistro Chez L’Ami Louis, which he often described as his favorite restaurant, for heaping plates of foie gras, roast chicken, escargots, scallops and pommes Anna, washed down with gallons of burgundy and magnums of Calvados.
Mr. Trillin, who later wrote about the evening for Gourmet Magazine, quoted one guest who summed up Mr. Apple’s attitude toward the party, and toward the rich, long life and career that produced it: “It’s my understanding that Apple has simplified what could be a terribly difficult choice by telling them to bring everything.”

The first link below has the complete obituary, links to some of his most acclaimed articles, and to his last one, a multimedia presentation, etc. If you've never read anything he wrote you should make a point to do so now. The second link is a Times-Picayune profile written when he visited New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina last year.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/r_w_jr_apple/index.html

http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/living-5/1131605332166260.xml