Ambrose Dudley

Ambrose B. Dudley, faithful servant of God, husband, father, grandfather, neighbor, friend and retired bureau chief for The Associated Press, died May 27, 2012. Dudley courageously fought a fifteen year battle with cancer after first being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1997. He had a successful bone-marrow transplant at UNC Hospitals. In 2010, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a disease that eventually took his life. As a tribute to the loving caregivers who helped Dudley during his recovery from cancer, and his wife, Alice’s, recovery from a traumatic brain injury, the couple wrote “The Loving Caregiver … Two People Face Back-to-Back Crises Hand-in Hand.” A native of Frankfort, KY, Dudley joined the AP in Raleigh in 1963 after working for two years as news editor of The State Journal of Frankfort and in part-time positions at the radio stations WFKY in Frankfort and WVLK in Lexington, KY. He was educated at the University of Kentucky and North Carolina Wesleyan College. Dudley covered the General Assembly in Kentucky, North Carolina and Rhode Island and guided legislative coverage in Connecticut. He was the AP broadcast supervisor for North Carolina and South Carolina before being transferred to Providence, RI, as correspondent in 1969. He was named news editor in Hartford, CT in December 1971 and bureau chief for that state a year later. He transferred to Raleigh as bureau chief in May 1980. He was a pioneer in developing AP’s present system for tabulating election returns, building a system that provided fast enough returns from state elections to broadcasters to call winners by midnight and for newspapers to produce comprehensive county-by-county tables the next day. Previously, results weren’t known in many races until the early morning hours and papers carried statewide results a day later. Dudley was passionate about caring for senior adults and received recognition for sixteen years of devotion from the Ruth Sheets Adult Care Center at Edenton Street United Methodist Church. He was a loyal member of North Raleigh United Methodist Church and a passionate University of Kentucky Basketball fan. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Alice; two sons, Gregory Dudley and his wife Elizabeth of Charlestown, Indiana and Chris Dudley and his wife Kristy of High Point, NC; and five lovely granddaughters, Emily, Hannah, Grace, Abigail and Avery. Funeral services will be conducted on Thursday, May 31at 11a at North Raleigh United Methodist Church with visitation immediately following the ceremony.

Ambrose Dudley

July 9, 1939 - May 27, 2012