‘One of a kind’: Former AP reporter Mike Cochran dies at 85

By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — Mike Cochran, who during a nearly 40-year career with The Associated Press told the stories of Texas’ larger-than-life characters with his rich and detailed writing, and who ended up serving as a pallbearer for Lee Harvey Oswald while covering the presidential assassin’s funeral, has died. He was 85. Cochran’s longtime friend and former AP executive John O. Lumpkin said that Cochran died late Tuesday night after a long battle with cancer. Lumpkin said Cochran covered everything from sports to politics to natural disasters. Cochran and other reporters became pallbearers at Oswald’s funeral after no mourners attended aside from a few members of Oswald’s family.