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ABC journalist Mark Colvin dead at 65

Megan Levy
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Veteran ABC journalist Mark Colvin has died at the age of 65, the ABC has confirmed.

The award-winning presenter's death came after he struggled for more than 20 years with a rare auto-immune disease that he contracted while on assignment in Rwanda.

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ABC journalist Mark Colvin dies aged 65

After a long battle with an auto-immune disease, ABC PM presenter and former foreign correspondent Mark Colvin has died.

He died in Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney on Thursday morning.

In a statement, Colvin's family said: "Today we lost our beloved Mark.

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"The family would like to thank the doctors and nurses at the Prince of Wales hospital, as well as the community, the ABC, his friends and colleagues, who have stood by him and supported his career and life. 

"At this moment of grief, we request the family be left to mourn in private. 

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"Mark has asked that donations to the Prince of Wales Hospital Trust be made, in place of flowers."

It was through his second most prolific form of broadcast, Twitter, that Colvin bid his own public farewell.

In the hours after his death a tweet was sent from his account to his 103,000 followers seemingly saying goodbye.

Colvin had worked for the ABC for more than 40 years, including as a reporter, foreign correspondent and as the long-time presenter of ABC Radio's current affairs program PM.

ABC News Director Gaven Morris described Colvin as "one of Australia's finest journalists, admired and respected by his workmates and audiences alike for his intellect, wit and absolute integrity".

"For so many Australians, hearing his measured, authoritative voice on our airwaves each evening was a great pleasure and inspired instant trust and confidence," he said.

ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie said: "For many Australians, Mark's steady and measured voice as host of PM brought them the essential news of the day and kept them informed about events of national and international importance. 

"We will miss him enormously, and extend our thoughts to his family and friends."

Born in London, Colvin spent his childhood in Oslo, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur and London, oblivious to the fact that his father, John Colvin, was a spy - a senior officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

After graduating from Oxford with honours in English literature, he headed to Australia, where, in 1974, he landed a one-year cadetship with the ABC. It was the start of a life-long association with the ABC.

In his Andrew Olle lecture in 2012, Colvin recalled his first day of work at the ABC.

"Somehow, Aunty, where the BBC voice was still pretty prevalent in those days, saw something in me and, stylish in a denim jacket with patch pockets and a pair of flared trousers, I turned up on February the eleventh 1974 at 164 William St, headquarters of ABC News," Colvin said.

"It was a time of turmoil in Australia and elsewhere. Gough Whitlam was Prime Minister. President Nixon was in trouble at home over Watergate, and losing the war overseas in Vietnam.

"And so it was that a mere two months later, on what was effectively cadet work experience in Canberra, with most of my colleagues at lunch in the late lamented non-Members' bar, I found myself writing the ABC News story of the double dissolution of Parliament and the announcement of the Federal election.

"It was only a few pars for a radio bulletin, but it brought home to me in a tiny way the old adage that journalism is the first draft of history."

Colvin went on to become one of the founding presenters at 2JJ, now Triple J, as well as a foreign correspondent.

As European correspondent, Colvin covered the end of the Cold War, the Iran hostage crisis, as well as the terrorism he said people forget was common in those days.

In 1994, as European correspondent again, based in London, he was deployed by The 7.30 Report to Africa to help cover the genocide in Rwanda.

It was there that he contracted Wegener's granulomatosis, a rare inflammation of the blood vessels. When he returned to London he fell gravely ill and suffered from severe fluid build-up and kidney failure.

The huge load of drugs needed to keep him alive took its toll. A year later, as he was filing a story in Venice, he began to lose the power to walk, and needed a double hip transplant.

Despite his health problems, he stayed on the road for another 18 months, arriving home in 1997 to take up the reins at PM.

After years on dialysis, Colvin had a kidney transplant in 2013. He met his donor, prominent business adviser Mary-Ellen Field, on the job, during an interview about the News of the World hacking scandal.

Ms Field had been accused of giving journalists personal information about one of her clients, supermodel Elle Macpherson. Colvin and Ms Field struck up a friendship and, when the time came, Ms Field donated a kidney to Colvin.

The pair gave the kidney a name - Chris - and the story of the donation was made into a play, named Mark Colvin's Kidney.

Tributes from politicians and peers

Following news of his death on Thursday, there was an immediate outpouring of grief and tributes for the veteran journalist.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke in the House of Representatives and sent his deepest condolences to the family of Colvin, a "prodigious reader" who had a brilliant understanding of geopolitics.

"He was a gentle man, a calm man, an honest man, and somebody who spoke with a voice of well-informed authority into what is often a cacophony of spin and superficiality in 2017," Mr Turnbull said.

"He will be sorely missed, Mr Speaker. He will be sorely missed."

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Colvin was one of the finest minds in journalism.

"We use the word 'giants' perhaps casually sometimes, but no-one I think would dispute that he was a giant of journalism," Mr Shorten said.

"From Canberra to London, Tehran, Rwanda, Belfast and Baghdad, Mark explained to Australians what we needed to know in a way only that he could do."

Dozens of tributes were posted on Twitter, a medium that Colvin had taken to with great enthusiasm in recent years.

Colvin is survived by his mother, Anne, wife, Michelle, and two sons, Nicolas and William.

Many ABC colleagues have paid tribute. "I've never met anyone who knew so much and could use that knowledge to help shine a light on something, so that you as his friend, or the listener, always learnt something new," said a "devastated" Rafael Epstein, host of ABC Melbourne's Drive radio program. 

"I was always half-scared and half-excited to speak about books within earshot of him. He'd always read more, or all the author's books, and he could always remember more than you, and could tell you what a non-fiction author had missed, neglected, or got wrong."

Among Colvin's recent tweets was a photograph of his dog, Chops, who was brought to the hospital to visit him. Colvin said seeing his beloved dog was the "best medicine".

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