The Cambodian-born photojournalist Dith Pran, who survived the Khmer Rouge’s genocide, died Sunday at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, at the age of 65.

Dith was suffering from pancreatic cancer, a disease that he discovered too late, three months ago, after the journalist had ignored its early symptoms.

Dith worked as a translator and assistant for former New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg, who very much insisted to share his 1976 Pulitzer Prize for his work in Cambodia with Dith.

The two worked together in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, when the Vietnam War ended and the two countries became communist.

Dith was forced by the radical Communists to work on a labour camp in Cambodia, for more than four years. In that period, when intellectuals had no chance to survive, Dith pretended to be an uneducated peasant, suffering from starvation and enduring torture, until he managed to escape and move to the United States.

He lost about 50 relatives in the Khmer Rouge genocide, including close family members such as his father, three brothers and a sister.

Nearly 2 million of Cambodians died under the dictatorial regime of Pol Pot, who was aiming to transform Cambodia in a strictly agrarian society.

After Pran settled in the United States, he dedicated his life making people aware of the holocaust in Cambodia. He became ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project.

His colleague journalist Schanberg wrote a magazine article about Dith’s ordeal in Cambodia, titled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran." The article was the inspiration for a very successful British film in 1984. The film, called “The Killing Fields,” won three Oscar prizes.

In the last weeks of his life, Dith made use of his fame to warn people about of the necessity or early cancer detection.

"This is a sneaky disease and I didn't pay attention to the symptoms until it was too late," said Pran in an interview with The Star-Ledger. "Learn from me. I am not afraid to die, but I hate to see a life wasted."

Known as a very caring and warm man, Dith Pran was greatly admired and respected by many, who were deeply saddened by his premature death.