Former ABC News Senior Correspondent Jim Avila Dies at 70

Jim Avila, whose lifelong career in news included many years at ABC News, has died at the age of 70.

A former ABC News Senior Correspondent and 20/20 correspondent, Avila passed away after a long illness. Per ABCNews.com, ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic wrote to staff, "Jim was a gifted journalist and a generous colleague."

Avila left ABC News in 2021, though in recent years, he served as senior investigative reporter at KGTV, San Diego's ABC affiliate. Karamehmedovic praised him for continuing to cover "a wide range of stories with depth and fairness" and noting that even after becoming ill, Avila "continued to contribute to journalism through opinion writing and local reporting, sharing his experience and deep curiosity to tell the stories that mattered most to his community and viewers."

Avila specialized in politics, justice, law and consumer investigations and covered the White House during President Barack Obama's second term. He earned numerous prestigious awards for his highly respected coverage across his career, including the Merriman Award from the White House Correspondents Association, multiple Emmys, five Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the Cine Golden Eagle Award, among others.

Before moving into national news, Avila many notable roles included his time as a political reporter and anchor at CBS's Chicago station, WBBM-TV, and as an anchor and investigative reporter for KNBC in Los Angeles. Prior to joining ABC News, Avila worked at NBC News, first as a Chicago bureau correspondent and then as National Correspondent for Nightly News.