Fernand Auberjonois

Fernand Auberjonois
Born	(1910-09-25)25 September 1910 Valeyres-sous-Montagny, Switzerland
Died	27 August 2004(2004-08-27) (aged 93) Enniskeane, County Cork, Ireland
Occupation	Journalist
Spouses	Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat ​ ​ (m. 1939, divorced)​ , Helga ​ ​ (m. 1968)​
Children	3; including René
Parents	René Auberjonois (father) Augusta Grenier (mother)
Relatives	Rémy Auberjonois (grandson)
Honours	Legion of Honour Croix de Guerre Legion of Merit Polonia Restituta

Fernand Auberjonois (25 September 1910 – 27 August 2004) was a Swiss-American journalist who worked as the foreign correspondent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade. Throughout most of the Cold War, Auberjonois was one of the most admired American reporters based in London. From 1956 until his formal retirement in 1983 and after, he covered many of the world's biggest news stories. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. and served on secret assignments, including setting up radio transmissions for the Allies to divert the German's attention from the real invasion site on D-Day. From World War II through the Cold War, he worked for many print organizations, and also for NBC and Voice of America.

Auberjonois was born in Valeyres-sous-Montagny, near Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, the son of Augusta Grenier and René Auberjonois (1872–1957), one of Switzerland's best-known post-Impressionist painters.^[1] He married into European (Napoleonic) royalty, his first wife being Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat (13 November 1913 – 10 May 1986), a descendant of Napoleon's sister Caroline and her husband Joachim Murat, who was King of Naples and King of Sicily. They married in November 1939 and had a son, actor René Auberjonois, born in 1940.

In his 1980s, he lived in Enniskeane, County Cork, Ireland, where he owned a cottage.^[2] He died on 27 August 2004, at the age of 93, of a heart attack in County Cork.

Honours and awards

• Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (France)
• Croix de guerre 1939–1945 with four palmes (France)
• Legion of Merit (United States)
• Polonia Restituta (Poland)

References

1. Auberjonois, Fernand (1985). René Auberjonois, peintre vaudois. Payot. ISBN 9782601030099 – via Google Books.
2. Auberjonois, Fernand (1998). Ballade Irlandaise (in French). Editions Metropolis. ISBN 9782883400634. Installé dans son cottage de Enniskeane, avec sa femme et son chat, à une quarantaine de kilomètres de West Cork

• Lessenberry, Jack (28 August 2004). "Obituary: Fernand Auberjonois / Much admired foreign correspondent who lived a chronicle of 20th century". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2004.