Steve Komarow, a veteran foreign correspondent and newsroom leader who served as senior vice president and executive editor at CQ Roll Call, died Sunday after a recent accident and long illness. He was 61.

“Steve and I joined CQ Roll Call in January 2015 and from the outset his intellect and encyclopedic knowledge of Washington was an enormous asset to our coverage and the development of new products,” said Paul McHale, CQ Roll Call’s president. “But that intellect never got in the way of what I will remember most about Steve, his humanity.”

Kris Viesselman, senior vice president and editor in chief of CQ Roll Call, described Komarow as “among the finest of journalists and most generous of people.”

“The outpouring from his many friends and colleagues is a testament to the number of lives he has positively impacted. We will miss him dearly,” she said.

Komarow played a critical role in guiding CQ Roll Call’s coverage of public policy and politics and implementing newsroom innovations.

During a distinguished journalism career, he chased then-House Speaker Jim Wright down the hallways of Congress, smuggled a rescue dog out of Afghanistan over the Khyber Pass and explored the “spider hole” where Saddam Hussein was finally caught by U.S. forces.

Komarow’s career included stints at The Associated Press, USA Today and Bloomberg news. 

At USA Today, Komarow was a foreign correspondent and Washington bureau reporter covering defense and foreign policy.  He was embedded with the U.S. Army during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and also reported from Afghanistan.

In 2006, he became AP’s deputy international editor and was based in New York. He returned to Washington as AP’s deputy bureau chief to help manage coverage of the 2008 presidential elections. Komarow joined Bloomberg in 2010, where he initially led its defense team and later led the wire service’s coverage of the Obama White House, the Justice Department and Homeland Security Department.

He also had served as an adjunct lecturer on political and military journalism for Northwestern University’s Washington, D.C., program.

Komarow died Sunday at George Washington University Hospital.

Services are pending.