Club member and veteran journalist Connie Lawn passes away at age 73

Long-time independent reporter and National Press Club member Connie Lawn died Monday at her Lake Barcroft home in Falls Church, Virginia, at age 73.

Her death from a rare form of Parkinson disease was confirmed by her husband, Dr. Charles Sneiderman.

She spent 50 years covering the White House, the longest-serving reporter there.

She came to Washington in l967 after graduating from Simmons College in Boston and studying at Harvard and L’Institut Science Politique in Paris.

After brief stints as a staffer on Capitol Hill and as a reporter for all-news radio WAVA in Washington, Ms. Lawn signed up as a volunteer supporter for Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., in New Hampshire. She soon saw journalism as more important than politics and began a career as a freelance reporter. She then covered the White House run U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., was one of the few women reporters on the campaign trail, and covered his assassination in Los Angeles. She later went to Chicago where she was beaten up during the Democratic National Convention.

On the campaign trail, Ms. Lawn picked up a number of clients in this country and around the world. Some stayed with her for over 20 years. Her international radio clients included networks in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, South Africa, and other countries. She created a news bureau, Audio Video News.

In 1982, she was briefly kidnapped in Lebanon, while covering the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization. She also covered the Vietnam War protests, Watergate and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

She recounted her career in her book, “You Wake Me Each Morning – The Final Chapter,” and in a Club podcast..

Ms. Lawn had an especially close relationship with New Zealand, winning a lifetime achievement award from the New Zealand National Press Club and an honorary New Zealand Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth.

She also had a champion race horse named for her.

In 2016, she received the key to the city from the mayor of her home town, Long Branch, New Jersey, on Connie Lawn Day.

Ms. Lawn’s life will be celebrated in the near future; details will be announced at lakebarcroft.org. Contributions should be sent to Capital Caring Hospice or to the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area.

Besides her husband, she is survived by two sons, David and Daniel Rappaport.