Globe-trotting AP photographer John Gaps III dies, age 63

By MARGERY A. BECK
Associated Press

John Gaps III, an award-winning former Associated Press photographer, has died. The 63-year-old documented everything from war zones to the NCAA College World Series. His family confirmed his death on Tuesday. They said it was not immediately clear how Gaps died. The Omaha World-Herald hired Gaps in the early 1980s while he was still in college. He joined the AP in 1985. Based in Iowa, Gaps covered events around the world, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Princess Diana’s funeral. He was shot in the leg by an Israeli officer in the Gaza Strip in 1994. Gaps left the AP in 2000 to become senior photographer at the Des Moines Register. Gaps said: “You become aware of the fact that the work you did is going to outlive you. And that’s something.”