NEW YORK - Norman Welton, whose 31-year career as a photo editor for The Associated Press included coverage of New York City, the United Nations and four Olympic Games, died Wednesday. He was 81.

Welton died from colon cancer at a medical center in Port Jervis, N.Y., his niece, Lynda Kane, said Thursday. He was hospitalized after a fall at his home in Hawley, Pa.

Welton joined the AP in his native Chicago just after high school in 1946. He started as a part-time messenger and rose steadily through a series of posts there before becoming a senior photo editor at the company's New York headquarters in 1961.

His 44-year career with the AP was interrupted by two years of Army service at the Pentagon's communications center during the Korean War in 1952-53. He retired in 1992.

Welton's role as assignment editor included Associated Press' sports coverage and extended to the summer Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984, and the winter games at Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1984.

He was active in the Wire Service Guild, the union representing news employees at AP and United Press International, and served as its administrator for five years during the 1970s.

Welton and his wife of 30 years, Florence, were active in their local community in the Poconos region of northeastern Pennsylvania and competed in bridge tournaments across the U.S.

Welton's wife died in 1998.