Very sad news from Newsweek today: Senior Editor Tom Masland, 55, has been killed in a car accident. He had been with Newsweek for 15 years, covering international news and working as a foreign correspondent based in Africa. He was part of the Newsweek team that won the Free Press Association's Mencken Award for Best Feature Story for a 1993 cover on modern-day slavery.

"As anyone who has worked with him knows, Tom was a very kind and honorable man in addition to a valued and courageous reporter," Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said. "He was always there for his colleagues in times of need. Our prayers go out to his wife, Gina, their three children, and Tom's mother and siblings."

Masland leaves behind his wife, Gina, and three children. Our sympathies to his family and friends, and to Newsweek for the loss of a valued colleague.

Full press release after the jump, and on Newsweek's website here. Photo courtesy of Newsweek by Louise Gubb.

Update: Here is the account from the New York Daily News, dated Oct. 25th. Here is Masland's latest Newsweek story, on the Colbert Report, making some astute observations. It's a very sad loss, and once again our condolences to everyone who knew Masland.

TOM MASLAND 1950 - 2005

New York-Newsweek Senior Editor Tom Masland, 55, died today after suffering injuries from an auto accident in New York City. He had worked at Newsweek for 15 years, covering international news and spending several years reporting from the African continent.

Masland joined the Newsweek.com staff as a Contributing Senior Editor in September 2005, after a long career reporting in some of the world's most dangerous places. He joined Newsweek in May 1990 and wrote extensively on Haiti, terrorism in the Middle East and the changing political face of Southern and Central Africa. Four years later he was a senior writer for the international news section of the magazine and then, in June 1999, was named Africa Regional Editor/South Africa Bureau Chief. He covered the uprising in Liberia in 2003 and became the subject of news himself when he was injured by flying shrapnel from an explosion. Before coming to New York to join the Web site staff, he spent time in early 2005 in the Middle East, covering the war on terror.

"As anyone who has worked with him knows, Tom was a very kind and honorable man in addition to a valued and courageous reporter," Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said. "He was always there for his colleagues in times of need. Our prayers go out to his wife, Gina, their three children, and Tom's mother and siblings."

In 1994, Masland shared in the Free Press Association's Mencken Award for Best Feature Story for the May 5, 1993, cover story, "Slavery," which exposed the continuance of slavery around the world. Before coming to Newsweek, Masland was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, based in South Africa, from 1986 to 1990. He covered breaking news stories throughout Africa, including the last famine in Ethiopia, the Burundi massacre in 1988 and the Persian Gulf War. Masland also wrote features on such topics as AIDS in Africa and South African politics and traveled extensively throughout the continent, especially in Angola and Mozambique. Prior to joining the Chicago Tribune he was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 11 years, including a tour as Middle East correspondent based in Beirut. At the Inquirer, Masland shared in winning a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Three Mile Island disaster.

Masland graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in philosophy. He leaves a wife and three children.