CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston Gazette photographer Larry Pierce, who chronicled history during a 52-year run at the newspaper, died Friday. At age 72, he was still working until breathing ailments led to his hospitalization three weeks ago.
Pierce’s lifelong interest in photography led to a job with the newspaper in 1962. He soon chronicled some of the state’s most historic events, including the Bobby Kennedy presidential campaign.
Pierce took the famous picture of the Farmington Mine Disaster in 1968. The tall column of smoke billowing from the mouth of the mine became an iconic photo after appearing in newspapers nationwide.
He also became the first to photograph the mass destruction of the Buffalo Creek disaster in 1972.
“They wouldn’t let cars in there,” Pierce said during a conversation in January recalling the event. “I walked about 15 miles all the way to the head of the hollow.”
Pierce’s images published in the Gazette days after the event helped relate to the world the true scope of the disaster, which left 125 dead and 4,000 homeless.
“He was part of the Gazette for a half-century,” editor James A. Haught wrote in Saturday’s edition, “and he will be missed by all of us.”