Marie Bissell Constantin, an internationally renowned photographer and author known for her photographs of the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta, has been named to the 2017 Hall of Fame Class for LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.
The university announced Constantin, a long-time Business Report photographer, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with veteran Capitol Hill communications and political pundit Lou Gehrig Burnett, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor Alex Martin of The Wall Street Journal.
Constantin is a Connecticut native whose personal work took her to the slums of Calcutta, Tijuana, Haiti and Nicaragua. She graduated from LSU with a degree in general studies in 1980 and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1986. Her work has regularly appeared in the pages of Business Report for much of the publication’s 34-year history.
Constantin received her first camera at age 32 and became known when the Vatican chose to hang one her photographs of Mother Teresa in St. Peter’s Square for a 2003 Beatification Ceremony.
The photo was unveiled in front of more than 300,000 people, LSU says, and “CBS Sunday Morning” also aired a six-minute piece that featured more than 25 black-and-white photos Constantin made over a 13-year period.
A gala will be held to honor the inductees at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, at Juban’s Restaurant on Perkins Road. Tickets are on sale now and cost $50 per person and $500 for a table of 10.
