George E. Bria

George Emil Bria
Born	(1916-03-02)March 2, 1916 Rome, Italy
Died	March 18, 2017(2017-03-18)(aged 101) New York City
Occupation	Journalist
Spouses	Mary Whitton Arlette Philippous Brauer (2000–2017)
Children	2

George Emil Bria(March 2, 1916 – March 18, 2017) was an Italian-American journalist who worked for theAssociated Press(AP). He spent part of his early career as awar correspondentcovering theItalian CampaignofWorld War II,reporting on the surrender of German forces and witnessing the corpse ofrecently deceasedItalian dictatorBenito Mussolini.

Bria later became the chief AP correspondent at the United Nations and retired in 1981. He also wrote gardening columns, tending to his own vegetable garden inWestchester County, New York,after retiring.

Career

Bria was born in Rome and immigrated with his family toWaterbury, Connecticut,at a young age. He graduated fromAmherst CollegeandMiddlebury Collegeand began his career as a journalist with theWaterbury DemocratandHartford Courant.

Bria was hired by theBostonAP bureau in 1942, reporting on theCocoanut Grove fire.The Italian- and French-speaking Bria was sent to the Rome AP bureau in May 1944 and wrote daily dispatches from the Allied front in Italy. Bria was flown toMilanin April 1945 to view the body ofBenito Mussolinishortly after his execution, and was the first AP newsman to report on the surrender of German forces in Italy on May 2.After the war, Bria joined the AP bureau in Germany, reporting on theNuremberg trialsand theBerlin airlift,before returning to Rome and New York.

Bria returned to the AP Foreign Desk in 1961 as a supervisory editor, known among subordinates for favoring brevity in reports, once stating that "theD-Day landingscould be reported in 400 words ".He was chief AP correspondent at the United Nations in 1972–74, before returning to his Foreign Desk editor's position. He retired in 1981.Bria continued in retirement as afreelance writer,publishing columns on gardening until 2002.

Personal life

Bria lived with his wife, Mary, until her death in 1998.In 2000, he married Arlette Philippous Brauer, a writer and editor for the medical magazineMD.He lived inPound Ridge,an affluent suburb of New York City inWestchester County.Bria was an avidtennisplayer, participating in national over-85 tennis tournaments.

Further reading

• Gentiloni, Umberto (May 6, 2013)."Così ho annunciato al mondo che la guerra era finita".La Stampa(in Italian). Turin.
• Bria, George E. (February 11, 2015)."Last Man Standing".Amherst Magazine.