BASYE, Va. (AP) — Bernie Boston,
a newspaper photographer best known for his iconic 1960s
picture of a Vietnam War protester placing flowers in soldiers'
gun barrels at a rally, has died. He was 74.
Boston died Tuesday of a rare blood disease at his home
in Basye, where he retired in 1994 after working for The
Los Angeles Times, The Washington Star and the Dayton Daily
News. His death was announced by the White House News Photographers
Association, for which he served four terms as president.
Boston's photograph, "Flower Power," was a runner-up
for the Pulitzer Prize. He took the picture at a war protest
in Washington on Oct. 22, 1967.
He was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a 1987 photograph
of Coretta Scott King unveiling a bust of her late husband,
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in the U.S. Capitol.
Born in Washington, Boston graduated from the Rochester
Institute of Technology and served in the Army before starting
his news photography career in Dayton. He moved back to
Washington to work at the Star and was director of photography
when the newspaper folded in 1981. He then was hired by
The Los Angeles Times to establish a photo operation in
the nation's capital.
He covered every president from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.
After retiring, Boston and his wife, Peggy, co-owned the
Bryce Mountain Courier, a monthly newspaper.
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