Jim Avila, Former ABC News and ‘20/20’ Correspondent, Dies at 69

Jim Avila, an award-winning journalist who was a senior correspondent for ABC News and worked at the news outlet for 17 years, has died. He was 69.

ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic announced Avila’s death in a memo to staff Thursday, saying that “a former colleague of ours, Jim Avila, passed away after a long illness.” Avila died Wednesday, Nov. 12, at his home in San Diego, according to his family, CBS News reported.

More from Variety

Avila had served as ABC News’ senior national correspondent based in Los Angeles, specializing in politics, justice, law, and consumer investigations, and also was a “20/20” correspondent. He had first joined ABC News in 2004. After leaving the network in 2021, Avila joined KGTV, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, where he continued his work as a senior investigative reporter covering a wide range of stories.

“Jim was a gifted journalist and a generous colleague,” Karamehmedovic wrote. “Over an extensive career in journalism, Jim worked in several local and network news roles, and his reporting spanned events of national and international importance, from the September 11 attacks to the wars in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. His work earned him multiple Emmys and Edward R. Murrow Awards, among other honors. He also covered some of the highest-profile cases and trials, including those involving O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, and Jerry Sandusky.”

“[W]e thank him for his many contributions and unwavering commitment to seeking out the truth,” Karamehmedovic wrote in the memo.

Avila covered the White House for ABC News from 2012 to 2016, during which he broke the news that the U.S. and Cuba had reopened diplomatic relations, earning him the prestigious Merriman Award from the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Avila was the correspondent for a 2012 ABC News report on “pink slime,” a term for processed beef product used as low-cost filler. South Dakota-based meat processor Beef Products sued ABC News and Avila for defamation, alleging the “pink slime” report caused consumers to believe the product was unsafe and led to plant closures and employee layoffs. ABC News settled the lawsuit in June 2017 and paid the company $177 million but the news organization had long said it stood by its reporting.

Prior to ABC News, Avila worked at NBC News, where he had served as national correspondent for “Nightly News” covering a range of domestic issues that included the September 11 attacks and the aftermath and the D.C. sniper shootings. He also reported from Afghanistan and Iraq, during which time he filed from inside NBC’s Baghdad hotel compound during and after its bombing by terrorists. Avila averaged 130 reports a year on “Nightly News,” which was the highest number for any minority in broadcast history, according to his ABC News bio. Before being named national correspondent at NBC, Avila was a Chicago bureau correspondent where he covered high-profile events including shootings in Colorado, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Prior to NBC, Avila was anchor and the investigative reporter for KNBC in Los Angeles from 1994 to 1996. There he was the principal reporter on the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, helping the station earn the 1995 Golden Mike Award and a 1996 Emmy Award. Before joining KNBC, Avila was political reporter and anchor at WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned station in Chicago. From 1980 to 1984, he was a general assignment reporter for WLS, the ABC-owned station in Chicago. Prior to that, he was a weekend anchor and the San Jose bureau chief for KPIX in San Francisco from 1976 to 1980. He began his broadcast career at KCBS Radio in San Francisco in 1973 as managing editor and was later promoted to bureau chief.

Avila is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a National Emmy Award for his coverage of the destruction of Grand Forks, North Dakota, by flood and fire, and another Emmy for covering the fate of undocumented workers during the Southern California wildfires in 2008. He received five Edward R. Murrow Awards and was awarded the prestigious Cine Golden Eagle Award for his portrayal of an immigrant couple who put their son through MIT by collecting reusable cans from the streets of Los Angeles. In 1999, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists honored him with reporter of the year. In addition, he garnered three Peter Lisagor Awards from the Headline Club of Chicago, winning for his coverage of the Peru drug wars and the death of Mayor Harold Washington, and was named best reporter of 1989.

Over the course of his career, Avila “reported extensively on immigration, Hispanic America, and the personal narratives of immigrants, including stories that reflected his own family’s journey,” Karamehmedovic wrote in the memo.

“Beyond his work, Jim faced his health challenges with courage, including a kidney transplant generously donated by his brother,” Karamehmedovic wrote. “He continued to contribute to journalism through opinion writing and local reporting, sharing his experience and deep curiosity to tell the stories that mattered most to his community and viewers.”

Born July 26, 1956, Avila grew up in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Illinois, and graduated from Glenbard East High School. Avila’s father, James Wesley Simon, worked as a VP of both CBS News and Mutual Broadcasting, according to CBS News.

Avila is survived by his mother, Eve Simon; sister Karie Simon; brother Tom Simon, formerly of Fox News and CNN and now of Williston Trending Topics; and brother Jaie Avila, an investigative reporter for NBC affiliate WOAI in San Antonio.

“Of all of his accomplishments, Jim would often tell anyone who would listen, he was most proud of his three beloved children, Jamie, Jenny, and Evan,” Tom Simon wrote in a post on Facebook.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.