Leighton Mark (C) uses a camera designed specifically for one-handed use in the Oval Office of the White House in 1985. Mark died Saturday at the age of 67. File Photo by Dennis Brack
President Bill Clinton (C) looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Yirzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat exchange handshakes after signing the Arab-Israeli Peace Treaty on September 13, 1998, in a ceremony at the White House. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
First lady Nancy Reagan, overcome by emotion, accepts a handkerchief from her husband, President Ronald Reagan, and wipes away her tears during a farewell party given by the White House staff January 18, 1989. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Senate Democratic leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., (L) and Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, unveil legislation in Washington on January 5, 1987, to establish a special committee on the Iran-Contra aid scandal and vowed to have the probe completed before the presidential race gets underway next year. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Britain's Prince Charles lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1985. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
President George H.W. Bush (2nd-L) and first lady Barbara Bush (2nd-R) pose with Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (L) and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, before a state dinner at the White House on June 6, 1989. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Former American hostages Ed Anderton (L), Bonny Anderton (2nd-L) and Jennifer Anderton (2nd-R) are accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson (R) upon arriving at Dulles International Airport on September 2, 1990. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush pose with Princess Diana and Prince Charles in front of the British Embassy in Washington D.C., on November 10, 1985, prior to the start of a dinner event there. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Jacques Cousteau stands aboard his research ship "Calypso" on June 9, 1985, as he talks about his projects and upcoming 75th birthday. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., (L), confers with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass,, during a Senate confirmation hearing on July 29, 1986, in Washington for Chief Justice Nominee William Rehnquist. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Broadway legends Carol Channing (L) and Mary Martin pay tribute to House Speaker Tip O’Neill (C) during a Congressional Arts Caucus luncheon on August 12, 1986, in Washington. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Sen. Jesse helms of North Carolina (L) feeds a piece of watermelon to Lynn Shirley, North Carolina's watermelon queen from Nashville, N.C., as Rep. Bill Cobey (R), of North Carolina, looks on July 30, 1985. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Microsoft's Bill Gates enjoys a laugh with President Bill Clinton during a jobs retraining roundtable session at Shoreline Community College in Washington, February 24, 1996. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
President Clinton displays grief during a press conference at the Old Executive Office Building May 16, 1996, while observing a moment of silence for recently deceased Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Boorda, who was discovered with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
First daughter Chelsea Clinton waves to the crowd on the floor of the Democratic National Convention as her father, President Clinton, reaches out to a baby August 29, 1996. File Photo by Leighton Mark/UPI
Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Leighton Mark, a former United Press International photographer who learned to take photographs one-handed after he was shot on assignment in Beirut in 1984, died in Topeka, Kan., his family confirmed Tuesday. He was 67.
He died Saturday at the Lexington Park Assisted Living Health Center. Mark had been in declining health for the past year and a half, his cousin, Monette Mark, said.
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Mark, a native of Topeka, joined UPI in 1981 and worked for the news agency through the late 1990s, when he began working for the Associated Press. Before his time at the wire agencies, he shot photos for the Independence Examiner in Missouri and the Washburn University student newspaper. He graduated from the school in 1976.
During his time with UPI, he covered the Iran-Contra Affair, the Lebanese civil war, South Africa, Brussels, and the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations in Washington, D.C. Much of that he did with the use of only one arm.
While living in Beirut in the 1980s, he got caught up in some crossfire outside his apartment, taking a gunshot to the chest. Mark had been outside taking photographs of the fighting when he was shot. A witness told UPI the gunmen may have mistaken his camera for a gun.
He underwent 9 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel and the bullet, but the injuries left his right arm paralyzed.
"I almost came back in a body bag," Mark recalled three years later in a 1987 UPI article about the shooting. "I remember seeing the AK go up, ducking -- too slowly -- screaming my head off in terror and bouncing off the wall."
By 1987, Mark was back stateside, covering the White House without the use of his right arm due to the shooting.
With help from Jorge Mora, a former camera repairman for National Geographic, Mark designed a camera he could use with one arm. He used special telephoto lenses with added shutter releases connected to the motor.
Mark said he held his camera in the palm of his left hand and released the shutter with his little finger. He said former Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who lost an arm in World War II, offered to teach the photographer how to shoot pool one-armed.
Monette Mark told UPI her cousin figured out how to continue his photography career and taught himself to write again with his left hand.
"Back then they didn't do a lot of physical or occupational therapy," she said, adding that she's always thought of him as an "amazing guy."
Gary Kemper, the former UPI newspictures manager in London, agreed.
"Leighton was an inspiration to many photographers," he said after learning of Mark's death. "After surviving a terrible bullet wound during coverage of the Beirut conflict in 1984 for UPI, he never lost his determination to work as a photojournalist."
Former UPI picture editor and newspictures general manger Allan Papkin, who worked with Mark in Washington, D.C., said Mark rarely spoke about his injury or any difficulties he faced doing his job thereafter.
Mark was "just always positive about everything."
"Leighton's always positive outlook overshadowed everything that could be interpreted as negative," Papkin said, adding that he never turned down an assignment.
Mark is survived by his aunt, Dorothy Mark, and cousin, Monette Mark.