A heartbroken mother of the photojournalist who was killed in Ukraine said her son “always wanted to be out saving the world”.
Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, was killed on Monday by Russian shelling outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
He died along with Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra ‘Sandra’ Kuvshynova, and British reporter, Benjamin Hall, is in a serious condition in hospital.
His mother, Mare-Ange Zakrzewska, told the Irish Independent he “always wanted to be a journalist, photographer, saving the world”.
She added: “He started off independently, you know when you want to prove yourself nobody will employ you, he had to go on his own, prove himself, bring back all kinds of film which afterwards the BBC or RTÉ or French companies would publish.
She continued: “Then eventually Fox got him.”
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Marie-Ange said: “It happened on Monday afternoon at some time, I wasn’t told and then in the evening Michelle, his wife, she was rung her to tell her he was missing and then at lunchtime we got confirmation of his death”.
Marie-Ange, originally from France, moved to Ireland when Pierre was born 55 years ago.
Her husband was Polish and Pierre lived in Dublin throughout his life and he would stress his Irish credentials to everyone he met.
After his tragic death, tributes poured in to the beloved journalist.
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Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said: “Pierre was a war zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us.
“His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched. Based in London, Pierre had been working in Ukraine since February.
“His talents were fast and there wasn’t a role that he didn’t jump in to help with in the field – from photographer to engineer to editor to producer – and he did it all under immense pressure with tremendous skill.
“He was profoundly committed to telling the story and his bravery, professionalism and work ethic were renowned among journalists at every media outlet.
“He was wildly popular – everyone in the media industry who has covered a foreign story knew and respected Pierre.”
His mother said heartwarming tributes like this were the only consolation after her son’s death.
She added that her son was always focused on telling the “right stories”.
Making the announcement live on air, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer called Mr Zakrzewski “an absolute legend”.
“He was a professional, he was a journalist, and he was a friend,” he said.
CNN’s international correspondent Scott McLean described meeting Mr Zakrzewski in Kyiv two years ago.
“He was extremely popular in the industry,” Mr McLean said.
“I don’t usually drink a lot when I’m on the road because we’re busy, but we were three sheets to the wind because he was just a lovely guy to hang out with.”
A friend of Mr Zakrzewski since his schools days, Stephen O’Dea, told the Belfast Telegraph he was adored by his classmates and family.
“He was kind of a chameleon. You know he had a Polish dad and a French mother, a lovely family, and he was sort of
an Irish fella but he could grow a beard and he could become a middle-eastern guy,” he said.
“He could shave of his moustache and be a suave Frenchman but ultimately he was like ‘howya lads’ – he was an Irish guy and he was a very intrepid kind of fella.”
For the past 15 years, Mr Zakrzewski lived in London with his wife Michelle, who formerly worked as a journalist for the BBC.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin commended Mr Zakrzewski for his “courage”.
“Some very, very brave journalists from across the world are in Ukraine to show us and illustrate what is happening and unfortunately an Irish citizen, Pierre Zakrzewski, has lost his life in pursuit of a very noble service to humankind,” he said.
“We salute his courage in doing what he has done so many times before and his colleagues and our thoughts and our prayers are with his family back in Ireland and we want them to know that we are fully in solidarity with them at this very dark time for them.”
The attack on the Fox News crew came only a day after American journalist Brett Renaud, was shot and killed by Russian forces.
He had been in Irpin at the time, on assignment for Time magazine.
His car was on route to report on refugees who were trying to evacuate when they were ambushed by Russian troops.
