The friends of photojournalist James Foley are mourning his loss online, following the 40-year-old's execution by ISIS terrorists.
Foley, from Rochester, New Hampshire, was a seasoned reporter who went missing two years ago while covering the Syrian conflict.
'James Foley was a generous colleague & friend. We had beers in Antakya a week before he was taken. We talked about marriage/kids,' Buzzfeed's Middle East correspondent Sheera Frenkel tweeted.
Following a video posted online showing Foley's graphic beheading, his former employer GlobalPost issued a statement.
'On behalf of John and Diane Foley, and also GlobalPost, we deeply appreciate all of the messages of sympathy and support that have poured in since the news of Jim's possible execution first broke,' Philip Balboni, GlobalPost CEO and co-founder, said.
Remembered: James Foley, reporting from Syria in 2012 before his disappearance
Mother Diane Foley talked about her son in a January 2013 interview with a local television station and said her son was 'passionate about covering the story in Syria, passionate about the people there.'
He is the oldest of five children.
According to a bio on the website Free James Foley, the journalist had traveled extensively in the Middle East and North Africa on assignment and had covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
Prior to becoming a journalist, Foley helped 'empower disadvantaged individuals as a teacher and mentor, assisting them in improving their lives,' the website says.
He had been previously held captive while covering the uprising in Libya, and was released by Gaddafi's forces after six weeks.
Foley spoke about the 44 days of captivity in a video for the Boston Globe in May 2011.
'You don’t want to be defined as that guy who got captured in 2011,' he said. 'I believe that front-line journalism is important.'
Journalist Clare Morgana Gillis was also held captive with Foley in Libya, and wrote a 2013 essay in which she said captivity was 'the state most violently opposite [Foley's] nature.'
She also described him as gentle, friendly, courageous and impatient with 'anything that slows his forward momentum'.
A May article in Vanity Fair about the dangers for journalists in Syria described Foley as 'affable' and devil-may-care'.
At the time of his disappearance, Foley was working as a freelancer for Agence France-Presse's Global Post, but he previously contributed to Stars and Stripes and other outlets.