John Christopher Pala ~ April 3, 1952 - October 14, 2023 ~ Beloved son and brother, adored father, ever-present friend, intrepid journalist, daring sailor, explorer of odd places, truth seeker and progressive thinker.

A freelance journalist for the past 25 years, Chris Pala was a regular stringer for The New York Times and Science magazine, and also wrote for The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Le Figaro, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New York Magazine, Smithsonian, Nature, Conde Nast Traveler, Sailing magazine, and many others.

Chris was a true citizen of the world. Born in Haiti to a Catalan father and an American mother of Irish and Colombian heritage, he spent his childhood in New York City, Paris and Mallorca. After attending French schools, he graduated in 1974 from the University of Geneva, where he studied political science, with minors in philosophy, economics and law. Throughout his journalism career, he lived in, and reported from, New Jersey, Los Angeles, New York, San Juan, Paris, Lagos, Moscow, Brussels, Almaty, Honolulu and Washington, D.C.

His passion to seek truth for the good of humanity could be seen early on in his career. In his first reporting job with The San Juan Star in Puerto Rico, he wrote a five-part series exposing horrible conditions for patients in the state psychiatric hospital, which resulted in improvements and a Scripps-Howard writer award.

Chris believed life should be lived dangerously or not at all. As a correspondent for United Press International, Bureau Chief for Agence France-Presse and as a freelance reporter, he covered wars, invasions, and coups; kidnappings and hostage crises; elections, dictators and corruption; and banking and oil news. But his greatest love was covering science and environmental issues, with a focus on the ocean and climate change. 

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As an explorer with a daring sense of adventure, Chris visited the North Pole five times and it remained his favorite place to the day he passed away. He’s the author of the book, The Oddest Place on Earth: Rediscovering the North Pole, an account of the birth of post-Soviet polar tourism. 

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He SCUBA dived in the Arctic Circle, spearfished in the Caribbean, and sailed for a year in Pearson Alberg 35 sloop from San Diego to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and the Society islands. He asked for this epitaph, “He sailed close to the wind,” which he believed was the most fun, and only way one should sail.

In his 40s, his curiosity led him to learn Russian after the fall of the Soviet Union, and he covered the new Belarus presidency, sailed Lake Baikal for Sailing magazine, and traveled to the Kurile Islands for Business Week. After reporting on elections in Kazakhstan, he decided to move there, where he was a stringer for The New York Times and other outlets from 2000 to 2006.

The greatest loves of his life arrived in 2004 and 2006, his daughters, Isabelle and Sasha. They lived first in Almaty, then Honolulu and finally settled in Washington, D.C., where he lived the last 14 years of his life raising the girls in partnership with their mother, Shannon Crownover. He was a devoted father, who took the girls on adventures to Puerto Rico and throughout Europe, drove them around Capitol Hill in a convertible with the top down year-round, taught them to love books, arts and culture, made gourmet dinners most nights, took them camping and sailing on weekends, and led them on long walks around his hometown of Paris.

Chris passed away on Saturday morning, October 14, 2023, after courageously battling two cancers over 9 years. His daughters and loved ones were by his side until the end. He is deeply missed.

He is survived by his daughters, Isabelle and Sasha, and by his sister, Susie Loir, her husband, Pascal, his nephews Tommy and Robby and their families, countless friends around the world, and by his daughters’ extended family in North Carolina.

There will be a burial service for Chris in Paris, France, on June 26, 2024, at Montrouge Cemetery. A celebration of life was previously held in Washington, D.C., in November 2023.

To honor his memory and support his children during this difficult time, friends have set up a Go Fund Me for his two daughters’ university education costs. Thank you for considering any contribution.

https://gofund.me/757b8a16

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