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Helen Thomas died at the age of 92 on Saturday, July 20, 2013. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Former longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas died on Saturday at the age of 92.

Thomas began her career as a White House correspondent reporting on President John F. Kennedy. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she covered every U.S. president since then, for a total of ten U.S. presidents, gaining legendary status, CNN reported.

Thomas worked the White House beat for 49 years for United Press International and Hearst newspapers. She died after a long illness in her apartment in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times.

The news was announced in an email sent by Susan Hahn, president of the Washington journalists' organization The Gridiron Club and Foundation, of which Thomas was a former president, to the group's members, Reuters reported.