American journalist killed in Ukraine: How Brent Renaud's friends are remembering him WFAA's Susanne Brunner spoke with Brent Renaud's friends from SMU, where he graduated in 1994. As people across the U.S. continue to learn about American journalist Brent Renaud, who was killed during a recent Russian missile attack in western Ukraine, two former colleagues from his time at Southern Methodist University describe the type of impact he had on Dallas and the people in his community. Renaud, 50, was a filmmaker who had worked for several media outlets, including The New York Times. Before then, he went to SMU and eventually graduated in 1994. That's when he met Thear Sy Suzuki. "He made me feel seen," Suzuki said. "It was a special connection." Suzuki is from Cambodia, and her family lived through the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. A Catholic-aid organization in Dallas eventually sponsored Suzuki and her family, allowing them to move to America as refugees in 1981. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/brent-renaud-american-journalist-killed-the-world-has-lost-a-great-human-being-friends-of-slain-us-journalist-remember-his-impact-at-smu/287-3d01820b-a54b-4fae-8979-bda60af8161b