Rupert Cornwell was a foreign correspondent for over 40 years, based in Paris, Brussels, Rome, Bonn, Moscow and Washington. He joined The Independent at its founding in 1986 as Moscow correspondent, after 14 years with the Financial Times. He spent 21 years in the US, 12 of them as Washington bureau chief. In 1983 he published God's Banker, about Roberto Calvi, the Italian banker found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge. Rupert passed away on 31 March 2017.