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Veteran CBS camerman Laurens Pierce Dies

ATLANTA -- Retired CBS cameraman Laurens Pierce, who covered the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., died Thursday of complications from a heart attack. He was 66.

A native of Montgomery, Ala., Pierce suffered a heart attack Monday and had been in intensive care since then.

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A close friend to civil rights leaders and politicians, Pierce joined the network in 1967. He was perhaps best known for his coverage of the violent civil rights demonstrations in the late 1960s.

'He's been through it all,' a colleague said.

Pierce covered the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march and the Montgomery bus boycott, as well as the attempted assassination of former Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1972.

Wallace called Pierce a 'very dear and close friend.

'He was always there and always did his work in a professional manner,' Wallace said. 'But I will remember most the many kindnesses he has shown to me and my family through the years.'

Soft-spoken and gentlemanly, Pierce retired from CBS last year. One of the last big stories he covered was the murder trial of Wayne Williams in Atlanta.

He is survived by his wife Patricia, two daughters and a son.

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