in memoriam: michel du cille, 1956 – 2014

In Memoriam: Michel du Cille (1956 – 2014)

He worked in images, but his passion was reality

Michel duCille (January 24, 1956 – December 11, 2014) was an American photojournalist who won three Pulitzer Prizes.

He shared the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography with fellow Miami Herald staff photographer Carol Guzy for their coverage of the November 1985 eruption of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano. He won the 1988 Feature Photography Pulitzer for a photo essay on crack cocaine addicts in a Miami housing project ("photographs portraying the decay and subsequent rehabilitation of a housing project overrun by the drug crack"). As "du Cille" he shared the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service with Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull, for "exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials."

Documenting with dignity in the Ebola zone

By Michel du Cille The Washington Post

Michel du Cille died while on assignment in Liberia. He collapsed while returning on foot from a village where he was working on a project; he was taken to a hospital but was declared dead upon arrival of an apparent heart attack.

Du Cille, who documented international and domestic crises for the past four decades, wrote about his experience covering Ebola in October. He stated that it was "profoundly difficult not to be a feeling human being while covering the Ebola crisis... sometimes, the harshness of a gruesome scene simply cannot be sanitized. [...] But I believe that the world must see the horrible and dehumanizing effects of Ebola."

Moses Tarkulah stands by as colleagues enter the suspected Ebola case ward in Monrovia, Liberia, on Sept. 16, 2014.

People in Liberia are traveling more by buses and taxis on Nov. 3, 2014, in Monrovia, Liberia.

Sept. 13, 2014 The body of a man is unattended while people move through a courtyard in New Kru Town. The man died early in the morning, but his body was not picked up until after 3 p.m.

Sept. 20, 2014 A 17-year-old boy was in a room for two days before a team of Liberian health workers could retrieve his body. Health workers are overwhelmed with a constant stream of new patients since the Ebola outbreak.

Sept. 16, 2014 Two people suspected of grand theft get sprayed down by a health worker after the man vomited in the West Point Magisterial court during his arraignment. An ambulance took the couple to an Ebola Treatment Unit, at which time the two promptly escaped.

Sept. 21, 2014 A scene photographed from the top of a house that overlooks a beach along the Atlantic Ocean from the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Monrovia. Monrovia is the most populated city in Liberia and the capital of the country.

Jatu Zombo and her 5-year-old son, who fell ill outside the JFK treatment facility on Sept. 13, 2014, in Monrovia.

Sogbondo Raylo carries a bundle of freshly harvested rice on her head on Nov. 6, 2014 in Foya, Liberia.

Members of the ambulance team rest after retrieving two suspected Ebola patients to the Bong County Ebola Treatment Unit on Sept. 17, 2014.

A woman lays dead outside the Redemption Hospital on Sept. 20, 2014, in Monrovia, Liberia.

Two people lay dead on the floor inside the critical ward of the Redemption Hospital, in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Monrovia, on Sept. 20, 2014.

Standing at the screen door on Sept. 21, 2014, in Monrovia, Liberia.

Mamie Harris holds Agnes Sandee on Sept. 15, 2014, in Unification Town, Liberia.

People load bags of Bulgur-wheat and cooking oil after they received a share of foof items from WFP's food distribution on Nov. 6, 2014 in Kolba City, Liberia.

Workers at the new Ebola Treatment Unit, now called MOD, which is located on an old unfinished Ministry of Defense property on Nov. 1, 2014, in Monrovia, Liberia.

Sept. 13, 2014 A team of MSF (Doctors Without Borders) health workers at ELWA3 Ebola Treatment Unit take a break from caring for Ebola patients.The team handles severe cases, including body removal.

Alexander Morris faints from the heat inside a protective suit, while the Lofa County Health Department team buries his sister on Nov. 7, 2014, in Voinjama, Liberia.

Sept. 16, 2014 The body of a 12-year-old boy is buried without ceremony near the Bong County Ebola Treatment Unit in Liberia. The boy died shortly after arriving by ambulance.

Sept. 13, 2014 Workers put a man on a stretcher upon arriving at a Doctors Without Borders treatment facility in Monrovia. The man was too weak to walk and showed symptoms of Ebola.

Sept. 13, 2014 Doctors Without Borders workers spray disinfectant inside a taxi used to transport a man to their facility.

Wencke Petersen, a Doctors Without Borders health worker, talks to a man through a chain link gate in September, when she was doing patient assessment at the front gate of an Ebola treatment unit.

Esther Tokpah, 11 an orphan, weeps as Dr Jerry Brown tries to console her before she was released from care in Monrovia

A sick child that health workers called Cynthia waits for dead bodies to be removed before she can enter the Redemption Hospital

Ebola survivor, Makula Dunor a nurse, poses for a portrait on Nov. 7, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Klubo Mulbah, a survivor from the ELWA 2 Ebola Treatment Unit-- directed by Dr. Jerry Brown, from poses for a portrait on Nov. 9, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Decontee Davis, an Ebola survivor, spends a moment alone pondering during a music video launch party to raise awareness on Ebola, Nov. 12, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Sept. 21, 2014 A scene photographed from the top of a house that overlooks a beach along the Atlantic Ocean from the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Monrovia. Monrovia is the most populated city in Liberia and the capital of the country.

The eruption of Colombia's Nevado Del Ruiz volcano

By Carol Guzy and Michel duCille The Miami Herald

Carol Guzy and Michel duCille's photos document the devastation caused by the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz

volcano in Colombia in 1985. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography in 1986.

Two rescue helicopters pull survivors of the mudslide to safer ground. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

People try to identify their relatives the day after the mudslide. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

An arm frozen in time, as if the victim was trying to swim to safety, caught in the mudslide in Armero. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

More than 25,0000 people were killed in the mudslide after an eruption of the volcano Nevada del Ruiz, which covered the town of Armero Columbia. Although rescuers tried to aid survivors, the devastating tragedy of 1985 claimed most of the town, which later became a cemetery of sacred ground. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

A man carries another away from the wreckage left in the aftermath of the massive mudslide that struck Armero. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

More than 25,0000 people were killed in the mudslide after an eruption of the volcano Nevada del Ruiz, which covered the town of Armero Columbia. Although rescuers tried to aid survivors, the devastating tragedy claimed most of the town, which later became a cemetery of sacred ground. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

Omayra Sanchez looks up from her watery grave. The 13 year old girl was trapped in the mudslide which covered her town of Armero Columbia, killing more than 25,000 people. Although rescuers tried to free her, they were unsuccessful. After 59 hours, she died, becoming a sad symbol of the devastating tragedy. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

A woman cries after identifying one of her relatives the day after the mudslide. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

Rescuers use whatever means they could to get survivors of the mudslide to safety, including this wheelbarrow. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

Helping hands try to wash the mud and sand from the face of a survivor of the disaster. The Miami Herald, Michel du Cille

Photo essay on crack cocaine addicts in a Miami

By Michel du Cille The Miami herald

Michel duCille's photos document the calamity of crack addiction in Miami. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography

in 1988.

The scene at night at the apartment complex turned crack cocaine supermarket on the corner of Northeast Second Avenue and 71st Street. As the crack cocaine epidemic spiraled around the country Miami became ground zero for crack addiction. One public Housing project was dubbed the Graveyard by local residents.

A construction worker, who had just left work, smokes crack using a soda can as his pipe.

A woman holds a crack pipe made from a small plastic liquor bottle.

A woman named Pat says she turned to prostitution to feed her crack habit.

A man climbs through the window of an empty apartment.

A man looks through a broken window of an empty apartment. Unoccupied apartments became the crack den for many of the addicts at the apartment complex turned crack cocaine supermarket on the corner of Northeast Second Avenue and 71st Street

A crack addicted prostitute sleeps on an old mattress in an empty apartment.

A woman who had been using crack most of the night, sleeps in an abandoned car.

Rudy, a resident with small children, found herself addicted to crack cocaine. As the crack cocaine epidemic spiraled around the country Miami became ground zero for crack addiction.

Miami Police perform a sting operation to arrest users and dealer of crack cocaine at a public housing project, dubbed the Graveyard by local residents.

A line of people are under arrest for buying crack during a Miami Police a sting operation to bust users and dealers of crack cocaine at a public housing project, dubbed the Graveyard by local residents.

Walter Reed Hospital

The Washington Post

By Dana Priest, Anne Hull and Michel duCille

The 2008 Pulitzer Prize WinnersPublic Service

The Washington Post Dana Priest, Anne Hull and Michel duCille for their series on the

treatment of military veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy Duncan indicates mold on the wall of Building 18, an outpatient facility at Walter Reed Army Medical center. "Building 18 was like the ghetto," he said, but it had television and video games. The Washington Post

Josh Calloway, left, says goodbye after visiting his friend Denver Rearick for a weeekend. Rearick says that multiple deployments to Iraq are taking their toll on soldiers. "The good things is, you'll relax in a year," he said. "The bad news is, in a year they'll send you back."

Wounded soldiers are required to attend early morning formation where they report to the brigade commanders of Walter Reed Medical Center's new Warrior Transition Brigade. These soldiers spend the rest of the day in treatment or dealing with bureaucracy. The Washington Post/Getty

Robert Riddle, dying of melanoma that spread to his brain, falls into a drug induced sleep a few days near the end of his life. Family friend Dan Baggio comforts Riddle’s wife, Rebecca. They are pictured in a special room at Walter Reed in 2007 The Washington Post

Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the surgeon general of the Army, listens to opening statements at a U.S. Senate hearing on Department of Defense's medical programs at Walter Reed. Kiley later was forced to resign as surgeon general. The Washington Post

RIP, Michel du Cille

end

cast In Memoriam: Michel du Cille (1956 – 2014)

images and text credit www. www.washingtonpost.com www.theguardian.com media.miamiherald.com time.com Music Hans Zimmer created olga.e.

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