Hundreds gather to honor the life of James Foley

(MILWAUKEE)--  The vigil was somber, and full of prayer.  But it was also full of smiles and laughter, and that's the way friends say James Foley would have wanted it.  


Hundreds packed the Church of the Gesu on Marquette University's campus Tuesday night, for a vigil to honor slain journalist James Foley, killed last week by ISIS militants in Iraq.  


Foley had been working as a journalist in Syria and had been missing since Thanksgiving of 2012. He was also captured in Libya in 2011.  Dr. Lori Bergen, Dean of the J. William and Mary Diedrich College of Communication said that despite the danger inherent in the job, Foley considered his job a calling. \"He told my students... the world and America need to know the reality and the people behind the things that happen in these wars,\" Bergen said. 


Friends like Dr. Tom Durkin challenged the community to follow in Foley's footsteps, in their own way. \"Help the underdog find out what their story is like that don't just judge somebody find out what is actually going on,\" Durkin said.


Mike Keating said that while most people knew James Foley the journalist, he had the joy of knowing how funny and engaging Foley was.  \"He was a bright, bright light in our sky.  We loved him very much,\" Keating said.  


A fund has been set up in honor of James Foley.  His family says it will go to help protect journalists, and provide education opportunities for disadvantaged youth.  


Learn more at www.freejamesfoley.org 

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