Sally Jacobsen, AP’s first female international editor, dies

Sally Jacobsen, a widely experienced Associated Press correspondent who became the first woman to serve as the news service’s international editor, overseeing with a cool, steady hand coverage of wars, terrorism and a daily stream of history-making events, has died at the age of 70.

Jacobsen, who retired in 2015 to Croton-on-Hudson, New York, died Thursday night at nearby Phelps Hospital from a recurrence of cancer that first struck her six years ago, said her husband, Patrick Oster, a retired Bloomberg News managing editor.

Her 39-year career took her from the precincts of financial power as a Washington economics correspondent, to the earthquake-ravaged barrios of Mexico City, to the councils of NATO in Brussels and then to the pressure-packed job at New York headquarters of leading AP’s scores of international correspondents through the years of 9-11 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In her final jobs, she supervised the AP Stylebook, shepherding through changes in newswriting conventions followed by media organizations everywhere, and was executive director of the industry group Associated Press Media Editors.

“Sally had a quiet strength that was critical to her role as a foreign correspondent, Washington correspondent, international editor and editor of the AP Stylebook,’’ said Kathleen Carroll, former AP executive editor. “Her passing is a terrible blow and we are grateful for all that she contributed to the profession in her distinguished career.’’