Kim Gamel, loving daughter and sister, doting aunt, faithful friend and talented writer passed away peacefully June 17th in her hometown of Boise, ID after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
During a nearly 20-year career with the Associated Press news agency, Kim carved out a reputation as an unflappable journalist whose editing prowess and leadership took her to posts around the world including Stockholm, New York, New Delhi, Kabul and Cairo. As news editor of the AP’s Iraq bureau in Baghdad, Kim was known for her sterling news judgment and unshakable moral compass. She took particular pride in her role as a mentor to the Iraqi reporters who worked alongside her in covering the conflict.
While in Iraq, Kim was deeply moved by a single casualty: a 3-year-old girl named Shams who lost her mother in a bombing, an attack that left her blind and disfigured. The story of this one little girl touched Kim’s heart. Kim oversaw coverage of Sham’s plight, leading to a fundraising effort that enabled Shams to travel to London for reconstructive surgery. While her vision was not restored, Shams got prosthetic eyes and hope for a future due to Kim’s big heart.
In 2014, Kim took a yearlong break from daily journalism as a Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan. She went on to report from Seoul as Asia-Pacific correspondent for Stars and Stripes, then settled in Honolulu, where she served as managing editor at Civil Beat, focusing on accountability and watchdog coverage.
An alumni of Boise High School, Kim demonstrated a gift for writing and languages early on. She was inspired by her high school English teacher, Mrs. Vinz, who taught Kim the art of developing a good story. Kim often referenced the “incubation period,” when a story was just taking root, before setting a pen to paper. She later developed an interest in international affairs during a college study-abroad program during the waning years of the Soviet Union. After graduating from Bates College with a degree in Russian studies, Kim took a job as a nanny for an American diplomatic family in Moscow — a post that came with an unexpected brush with the KGB, who sent an agent to take her for coffee in hopes of gathering intelligence. She went, out of curiosity, gave up nothing, and promptly reported the encounter to the State Department.
Journalism, however, was Kim’s calling. She took a job at the English-language Moscow Tribune before returning to the United States to earn a master’s degree at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She spoke fluent Russian and working Arabic.
Kim was diagnosed with indolent lymphoma in 2020 while based in Seoul and was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2024. She later received a stem cell transplant from her only sister, Seana. When scans showed the transplant did not succeed in putting the cancer into remission, Kim returned home to Idaho to be near family. Through nearly two years of treatment Kim continued editing, as it gave her a sense of purpose, but it was her family and lifelong friends who kept her strong. The circle of friends and family who traveled to support Kim through chemotherapy in Hawaii, during her transplant at Stanford Medical and those who visited her during continued treatment in Boise are the unsung heroes in her story. Kim’s family is immensely grateful for each and every one of these angels on earth.
Kim will be remembered for kindness and generosity. She had a heart for animals including feral cats of Seoul and in Honolulu. She always kept a bag of kitty food in her car “just in case.” Kim could never resist a good adventure, whether sand surfing in Egypt’s Siwa Oasis, crisscrossing Cambodia, paragliding over a canyon in Colombia, swimming in the Galapagos Islands or soaking in a centuries-old bathhouse in Budapest. Kim was fiercely competitive at Scrabble, vanquishing opponents even as her health declined. In Hawai’i, she soaked up the sun at Waimanalo Beach and enjoyed drinks on the lanai at the Elks Lodge in Honolulu.
Kim is survived by her mother, Bobbie Gamel of Nampa; sister, Seana Ruff and her spouse, Lee Ruff with niece and nephew, Alia and Eli, all of Boise; and a wide circle of friends and former colleagues around the world. Kim was preceded in death by her father, Patrick Gamel, in 2024.
