Harold “Hal” V. Hendrix, 92, of Vero Beach, passed away at the VNA Hospice House on Feb. 12, 2015.
He is survived by his daughter Kathy Hendrix and her husband Earl Walker of Vero Beach.
He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 67 years, Pat.
Born in Richmond, Mo., he grew up in Kansas City and attended Rockhurst High School and Rockhurst University. He began his career as a journalist at the Kansas City Star and, after covering local news, he convinced his editors that Latin America would become an important trade center and became the paper’s correspondent for Central and South America.
He organized a trip to Latin America in the early 1950s for Kansas City’s business and government leaders which was covered by the New York Times. Shortly after this trip, he moved to Miami in the mid-1950s to write for the Miami News. While at the Miami News, he covered Cuba extensively and reported there were Soviet missiles in Cuba three weeks before the White House made the announcement.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for International Reporting for his series of articles on Cuba. He then went to work for Scripps Howard News Service as their Latin American correspondent based in Miami. He covered numerous riots, revolutions and coups in Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Venezuela and Haiti during this period.
In the late 1960s he served as Director of Public Relations for Latin America for International Telephone and Telegraph Company and lived in Buenos Aires for four years. He was transferred to New York as the Vice President for Latin American Public Relations and continued to travel throughout the continent.
Wanting to return to Miami, he went to work as Vice President of Marketing for the Wackenhut Corporation in the late 1970s. After retiring in 1985 he moved to Vero Beach. He quickly became involved in the community. In the late 1990s he founded the Vero Beach Chapter of the Mended Hearts Cardiac Support Group and collaborated closely with the Indian River Medical Center. He remained active in the group for a number of years.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to VNA Hospice of the Treasure Coast, 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960 or to the Indian River Medical Center Foundation, 1000 37th Place, Suite 101, Vero Beach, FL 32960. A Memorial Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on March 19, 2015, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 500 Iris Lane. Mass will be followed by a reception at Quail Valley Country Club. An online guestbook is available at www.lowtherfuneralhome.com.