Brian Lanker with his portrait of Civil Rights leader Rosa Park in 1989.
Brian Lanker, an acclaimed photojournalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 1973, died on Sunday, just 10 days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 63 years-old.
Lanker was the Newspaper Photographer of the Year twice, in 1972 and 1975. He was just 25 when he won the Pulitzer for a black-and-white series on childbirth called “Moment of Life,” which featured his future wife, Lynda.
Throughout his career, Lanker would work for publications like Sports Illustrated and Life Magazine, capturing portraits of high-profile celebrities like Wilt Chamberlain, Jack Nicholson and Tom Brady. His most notable work, however, came with the publication of the seminal I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.
“Brian was a master craftsman who didn’t need words to communicate,” said Tony Baker, Lanker’s former editor. “His camera work alone made for extraordinary storytelling. He was a consummate professional, always prepared when on assignment for the paper. He was a big personality with a big-picture view of life and of his craft. Brian made everyone around him better at what they did.”
Lanker’s son, Dustin Lanker, tells the Associated Press that both he and his sister, Julie Coburn, arranged to have their weddings earlier so their father could attend. The wedding were held near the family home, only a day before Brian Lanker passed away.