AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)   Christopher Cousins, a veteran political reporter for the Bangor Daily News, has died from an apparent heart attack. He was 42.

The Maine native died Wednesday. He worked for the Norway Advertiser Democrat, The Times Record in Brunswick, and State House News Service before joining the Bangor Daily News in 2009. He earned a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and many Maine Press Association awards.

His editor, Robert Long, said Cousins was “a great journalist because he was a great person.”

But Cousins also held public officials accountable and showed no fear. Long said Cousins’ standard response to assignments for more than 15 years was, “I am not afraid.”

Long said Cousins had just moved to South Paris and died while helping a friend with carpentry.

He’s survived by his wife and two sons.