Mickey Carroll, NY Reporter Who Saw Oswald Killed, Dies At 86

"The prisoner, hands cuffed in front of him, was led into the cavernous garage under the station. Seconds before the shot, I shouted, 'How about it, Lee?'"

Those words were written by Maurice Carroll on November 24, 1963. He was in Dallas as a young reporter for The New York Herald Tribune covering the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy. Carroll was outside the police station as Lee Harvey Oswald was being moved.

Right after Carroll shouted the question, Jack Ruby burst through the crowd, firing shots at Oswald, killing him. In the famous photo of Oswald's killing, Carroll can be seen at the extreme right.

Carroll, known as Mickey to generations of reporters and politicians as he covered New York politics for the Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and Newsday before becoming spokesman for the polling institute at Quinnipac University, died Wednesday. He was 86.

Carroll died at his home in Convent Station, NJ.

In addition to working at the Times and Herald Tribune, Carroll also worked for the Passaic Herald News, the Newark Star Ledger, the New York Post, and the Jersey Journal. In 1995, he went to work for Quinnipiac.

"Mickey Carroll was a reporter in the finest tradition of American journalism, a dedicated educator and a knowledgeable commentator on the American political scene," said Quinnipiac University President John L. Lahey.

"He educated thousands in the classroom and millions through his reporting and his work with the poll."

His death also brought condolences from some of those he had covered.

"Saddened by the passing of Mickey Carroll," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a tweet. "He was a gentleman who cared deeply about the truth and about New York. He will be missed."

On social media there was an outpouring from people who knew him through his many jobs. The gist of many memories was that Carroll was "a gentleman."

Carroll also wrote books on the Iran hostage crisis and Oswald's killing.

He is survived by his ex-wife, Peggy, his son Michael who is a member of the New Jersey State Assembly, daughters Eileen and Elizabeth, 10 grandchildren, and his sister, Shannon.

His wife of 30 years, former NY Post columnist, Beth Fallon, died in 2006.

A memorial mass will be held Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Morristown, NJ.

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Photo courtesy Quinnipiac University