Ole worked successively for newspapers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa before joining the Des Moines Register in 1941, where he covered Nazi war crimes.
Richard Hellie's interest in Russian history was sparked upon reading a children's book about Soviet partisans.
[1][2] He completed a bachelor's degree in 1958, followed by a doctorate in 1965, and subsequently began teaching at Rutgers University.
[4] While on the faculty of the University of Chicago, Hellie served as editor of the journal Russian History for two decades.
[5] He died of complications from esophageal cancer at home in Hyde Park, Chicago, on April 24, 2009, aged 71.