Jack R.
Thornell, an American photographer, died on April 23, 2026, from complications from kidney disease. He was 86.
Born Jack Randolph Thornell in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on August 29, 1939, he served in the Army Signal Corps and worked as a photographer for the Jackson Daily News from 1960 to 1964 and later for decades for The Associated Press. Thornell won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of James Meredith after the activist was attacked and wounded by a sniper during the June 1966 March Against Fear in Mississippi. He married Carolyn Wilson in 1964, and they had two children, Candice and Jay Randolph.
Jack R. Thornell, 86, American photographer, complications from kidney disease.