STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jack Koehler, who fled advancing Soviets as a boy in Germany during World War II, grew up to report from there for The Associated Press and also served briefly in Ronald Reagan's White House, has died at age 82 at his Connecticut home.
A friend Anne Cron said Koehler died Friday after battling pancreatic cancer.
Koehler served as a U.S. Army interpreter as a teen in Germany, and came to the U.S. in 1954. He went on to hold several executive positions with AP.
He was later White House communications director for a week before resigning. He acknowledged belonging to a Nazi youth group at age 10, but said that wasn't why he resigned. He said he left to allow a new chief of staff to name his own team.
