Marino Romano de Medici

Marino de Medici, 89, of Winchester, VA, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on November 15 after a short illness. Born in Rome, Italy on May 16, 1933, he had a distinguished career as a journalist and foreign correspondent beginning at Il Messaggero in Rome in XX. He came to the U.S. after being awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Washington in Seattle and earned a B.A in Journalism, and later an M.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1960 de Medici opened the Washington bureau of Italian news agency ANSA. In 1964 he was named US correspondent for the Roman daily Il Tempo , a post he held until 1987 when he became the Dean of the Foreign Correspondents.

De Medici returned to Rome in 1988 to serve as Communications Director for the United Nation Agency IFAD. He continued to write for L'Informazione , Le Gazzette , Il Messaggero Veneto and Il Secolo XIX .  He taught journalism at the Padua campus of Boston University, and upon returning to Washington, became an Adjunct Professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. He wrote editorial columns for the Northern Virginia Daily and maintained a blog providing political commentary at marinodemedici.com.

During more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent in Washington DC he interviewed U.S. presidents from Lyndon Johnson through George H.W. Bush. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. He contributed to publications as diverse as Readers' Digest and Affari Esteri (Foreign Affairs).

During his time in Washington, he was also a frequent guest on news programs Meet the Press and other news shows. He founded the Washington and Virginia delegations of the Italian Academy of Cuisine. He traveled widely throughout Latin America, Asia, and Africa, covering the Vietnam war and coups d'état in Chile and Argentina. An inveterate traveler, he traveled to more than 120 countries and organized group trips for families to the Galapagos, Bolivia, South Africa, Australia, and China. De Medici also authored three books: SCRIBE: 30 Years as a Foreign Correspondent in America (2014); The Boy in the War Zone (2020); and Donald Trump:  Quattro anni di democrazia a rischio (2021) in Italian.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Nicki Furlan de Medici, and daughters Laura de Medici and Marina de Medici, and three grandchildren, Livia, Luca and Aria. Services will be private followed by a celebration of life at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials contributions may be sent to the Independent School of Winchester and/or Blue Ridge Hospice.