David Foster Belnap (July 21, 1922 - November 8, 2009) was an American journalist and foreign correspondent in Latin America from 1955 to 1980 who won a 1970 Overseas Press Club award for his reporting.[1]
Belnap was born in Ogden, Utah, the oldest of five children born to Utah district judge Hyrum A. Belnap and Lois Ellen Foster.
For 20 years, Belnap worked for United Press Associations and United Press International in domestic bureaus and Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he became director of the wire services Latin American operations. He joined the Los Angeles Times Buenos Aires bureau in 1967.
His major stories included Juan Peron's return to power in Argentina, election of Socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile and the rise of rebel factions in Nicaragua.
In 1980, Belnap was assigned as an editor on the Los Angeles Times foreign desk, retiring in 1993. In addition to his OPC award, Belnap won the 1973 Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for his Latin American coverage.
Belnap was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He died of heart failure November 8, 2009 in an Arcadia, California hospital.