Veteran ABC journalist Mark Colvin dies aged 65

Respected ABC journalist Mark Colvin has died aged 65 after a long illness.

The network announced news of Colvin’s passing at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney via social media this morning.

The former foreign correspondent and PM presenter on ABC Radio had battled health problems after contracting a rare auto-immune disease, Wegener's granulomatosis, while covering the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

This afternoon an epitaph appeared on his @Colvinius Twitter account, simply reading: "It's all been bloody marvellous".

The tweet was met with an outpouring of tributes from politicians, journalists and listeners.

Colvin received a kidney transplant from Mary-Ellen Field in 2012, after the pair developed a friendship during an interview about the News of the World phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom.

A business consultant, Ms Field had been accused of providing journalists with personal information about her clients, including supermodel Elle McPherson.

The story of the kidney donation became a theatre play, Mark Colvin’s Kidney.

The Colvin family released a statement that paid tribute to "our beloved Mark".

"The family would like to thank the doctors and nurses at the Prince of Wales hospital, as well as the community, the ABC, his friends and colleagues, who have stood by him and supported his career and life," the statement said.

At Colvin's instruction, the family has requested donations to the Prince of Wales Hospital Trust in place of flowers.

Colvin had worked at the ABC for more than 40 years, joining as a cadet in 1974 before founding 2JJ (now triple j) and later following as a producer and reporter on Nationwide.

He spent time as both the London correspondent, and the Europe correspondent, covering major conflicts such as the American hostage crisis in Tehran and broadcasted live from the Reagan-Gorbachev summits in Geneva and Reykjavik.

He has also worked on Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, The 7.30 Report and Lateline.

He has since held the helm of ABC Radio’s PM since 1997.

ABC's director of news Gavin Morris said: "Mark was one of Australia's finest journalists. He leaves an unfillable void as a journalist, a colleague and a friend."

"He was an important part of the ABC community as a mentor and teacher to young reporters and as a voice of wisdom and experience to many older ones. Our reporters and producers felt strengthened by his presence in the newsroom and emboldened by the sound of his voice on our airwaves," he said.

Tributes have poured in from ABC colleagues including News Breakfast presenter Michael Rowland who called Colvin “one of the greatest”.

He authored a memoir last year about his upbringing as the son of a British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) officer during the Cold War era, while himself becoming a journalist during the Whitlam and Fraser years of government.