ATHENS, Ga. — Conrad Fink, a longtime University of Georgia journalism professor and former Associated Press executive, has died in Athens at age 80.

E. Culpepper Clark, dean of the university’s journalism school, confirmed to The AP that Fink died early Saturday after battling prostate cancer for two decades. Fink had taught at UGA since 1983. Clark said he “was inimitable and is irreplaceable.”

In training a generation of Georgia journalists, Fink brought to the classroom 20 years of real-world experience from his service as a foreign correspondent in southeast Asia and as vice president for The AP. His AP career spanned 1957 to 1977.

Clark said Fink had taken medical leave during the fall semester but had planned to return before he was hospitalized last week.