Veteran UPI photographer Donn Dughi dies

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 8 (UPI) -- Longtime UPI photographer Donn Dughi has died at the age of 72 in a Florida hospital.

Dughi was photo chief of UPI's Tallahassee bureau for 21 years, where his work included the first news shots of serial killer Ted Bundy after his arrest in Leon County.

After he left UPI, Dughi spent a year at the Associated Press and nine years as photographer for the Florida House of Representatives. The Tallahassee Democrat says that he took hundreds of photographs capturing legislators in unguarded moments, like one that showed a female legislator grabbing a cigar out of an opponent's mouth.

"He had such a good eye for capturing distinctive moments on the floor of the Legislature," Joan Morris, retired curator of the Florida Photo Archives, told the newspaper. "He was just a special guy, with a tender heart and gentle soul."

A veteran of the Korean War, Dughi studied creative writing in college. But a stint writing for television turned him into a cameraman and led him to photography. After he retired from his position with the House of Representatives in 2001, he resumed writing.

Dughi is survived by two daughters.