Silver Owl Nick Longworth, former photojournalist and GOP official, dies at 82

Nick Longworth, an award-winning former newspaper photojournalist who became both a federal official and a Republican political consultant, died Sept. 3 at his home in Carmel, Ind. He was 82.

Longworth -- who was not related to former U.S. House Speaker Nicholas Longworth -- had been a Communicator member of the National Press Club since 1986 and became a Silver Owl in 2011.

In the 1950s and '60s, Nick Longworth was a photojournalist for The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel and The Indianapolis News, covering a wide range of stories from the erection of the Berlin Wall to the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. He narrowly escaped death on Memorial Day 1960 while covering the Indianapolis 500 auto race when fans sitting on a 30-foot-long scaffolding leaped to their feet simultaneously, throwing the structure out of balance and causing it to crash. Two persons were killed and 80 were injured, including Longworth.

After leaving journalism, Longworth worked for prominent Republicans in his home state, including Indianapolis Mayor (and later U.S. Senator) Richard Lugar and Indiana Governor Otis Bowen. In the 1980s he moved from Indianapolis to Washington, where he worked for the Republican National Committee, the 1984 re-election campaign of President Ronald Reagan and as a GOP political consultant in various federal, state and local races. He also served in the administrations of Reagan and President George H.W. Bush in various positions at the State Department, the Agriculture Department and the Veterans Administration.

He took special pride in his work as part of a State Department team that helped emerging Third World nations like Cambodia and Tajikistan develop democratic election systems.

In addition to the National Press Club, Longworth was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Indianapolis and Fort Wayne press clubs and the Columbia Club.

Survivors include a son, Eric Longworth of Phoenix; four daughters, Alisa Pittrizzi of Orlando, Fla., Nanci Albrecht of Indianapolis, Nikki Longworth of Greencastle, Ind., and Deborah Harrison of Shirley, Ind.; 11 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.