Tom Aspell

Tom Aspell
Born	1950 New Zealand
Died	February 11, 2013(2013-02-11) (aged 62–63)
Occupation	Television journalist
Years active	43
Employer	NBC News
Title	News Producer/Correspondent1
Spouse	Nujud Dabbagh
Children	2 sons (Peter and Tiger)

Tom Aspell (1950 – February 11, 2013) was a New Zealand-born U.S. television news producer, foreign correspondent, and cameraman.¹²³ He was employed by NBC News for 28 years and previously worked for ABC News, CBS News, and Visnews.¹²³

Aspell began his career as a scriptwriter and cameraman in 1970 with Visnews.²³ He was among the few foreign journalists who remained in Southeast Asia when Saigon fell to communist forces on April 30, 1975.¹³ From 1975 to 1978, he was a freelance cameraman in the Middle East.¹ In 1978, he joined CBS News as a cameraman covering Beirut, where he then worked as a producer for ABC News from 1981 to 1983.¹³

In 1985, he was hired by NBC News as a producer based in Cyprus.²³ He then became a foreign correspondent covering major events around the world.² His first on-air report for NBC was from Baghdad in August 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait.¹ From 1992 on, he spent considerable time covering the war-torn region of Bosnia.¹

Aspell lived on Cyprus with his wife Nujud Dabbagh and their two sons.¹² He loved sailing.²

Aspell died on February 11, 2013, after two years suffering from lung cancer.²³ He was 62.²³ Brian Williams, the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, said Aspell was a journalist with "an intense brand of cool under fire".²³ NBC News president Steve Capus described Aspell as "understated, selfless, perpetually cool, shrewd, wry, curmudgeonly, and a damn good reporter".³

• National Press Photographers Association Award for coverage of the Iranian Revolution (1979)¹
• Emmy Award for coverage of the Romanian Revolution (1989)¹
• National Headliner Award for coverage of Yugoslavia (1993)¹