Bill Brannigan, 73, a former journalist and press officer, who turned to acting in retirement, died on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 of acute idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at GWU Hospital in Washington, D.C. He resided in Arlington. A native of East Rockaway, N.Y., he graduated from Tufts University and then served as a naval officer for five years. Beginning at the New York World-Telegram & Sun, his journalism career included NBC News, UPI Newsfilm and ABC News, where he was a correspondent and bureau chief. He opened news bureaus for ABC in Nairobi and Cairo and served at the network's New York, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv news bureaus. He was the Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1969-1970.
He covered civil rights protests including the 1965 Selma, Alabama march and the James Meredith march through Mississippi the next year. He was based in Viet Nam for two years at the height of that conflict and reported on the 1968 Tet Offensive from Da Nang and Hue. He reported from Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict and from Angola during the long civil war there.
After leaving ABC News, he served as news manager at Bank of America headquarters in San Francisco. In 1982, he joined the World Bank's press office in Washington, where he served for 15 years. Upon retirement, he took up acting, performing in 22 area productions, both dramas and musicals.
He was a member of the National Press Club, the Overseas Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. For more than 20 years, he was a lector at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Alexandra. He served as a volunteer with Travelers Aid at Ronald Reagan National Airport. His wife of 33 years, the former Rosalind Prophet, died in 2005. He is survived by two daughters, Beth, of Lake Tahoe, Calif. and Brigid, of San Francisco, Calif.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Rita's Catholic Church on Friday, June 26 at noon (3815 Russell Road Alexandria, VA 22305). A memorial service will be held at the National Press Club on Saturday, June 27, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. (529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor - Washington, D.C. 20045). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Catholic Relief Services (http://crs.org/, checks may be sent to: Catholic Relief Services P.O. Box 17090 Baltimore, MD 21203-7090).