But he ended up a political pawn in the hands of brutal jihadists, becoming the third Western hostage beheaded by ISIS in a matter of weeks.
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And once again, the terrorist group is threatening to kill yet another of its high-profile captives.
The gruesome video showing the death of British aid worker David Haines prompted revulsion and condemnation after it was posted Saturday.
"The murder of David Haines is an act of pure evil," British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter.
"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes," he vowed.
Britain's top security and intelligence officials will hold an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the crisis as the life of another British man held by ISIS hangs in the balance.
The video of Haines' death shows a masked ISIS militant placing his hand on another captive, whom he identified as Alan Henning, a British citizen.
'Your evil alliance with America'
The Islamist group, which controls large areas of northern Syria and Iraq, previously publicized grisly videos of the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. It has also brutally slaughtered large numbers of Syrians and Iraqis in the territory it's seized.
In the two previous videos, the killer directed his comments at the United States, which had begun airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq. But the latest one singles out Britain.
"Your evil alliance with America, which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam, will only accelerate your destruction and claim the role of the obedient lap dog," says the killer, who sounds like the man who murdered Foley and Sotloff.
The United States launched airstrikes on ISIS positions near Haditha Dam in western Iraq a week ago and is working to build a coalition of countries to support its efforts to combat the terrorist group.
"Cameron will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war," says the killer, dressed all in black with only his eyes and hands showing. He calls the beheading "a message to the allies of America."
The video is produced very similarly to those that showed the beheadings of Foley and Sotloff.
Like them, Haines appears kneeling beside the executioner in a barren desert landscape, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. He had been shown briefly in the earlier video of Sotloff's killing.
Father of two girls
Haines, 44, went to Syria to help organize the delivery of humanitarian aid to a refugee camp in Atmeh, close to the Turkish border. He was abducted near the camp in March 2013.
"David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles," his brother, Mike, said in a statement. "His joy and anticipation for the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family the most important element of this whole sad affair."
Haines had more than a decade of experience doing aid work, helping victims of conflict in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.
He was in Syria as a logistics and security manager for ACTED, a French aid group that was helping provide food, tents and water for tens of thousands of people who had fled to the Atmeh camp amid the vicious civil war.
When he wasn't working in troubled areas, Haines lived in Croatia with his wife Dragana and their 4-year-old daughter.
He grew up in Scotland, and his first marriage was to his childhood sweetheart Louise, according to his brother.
His teenage daughter from that marriage, Bethany, talked about how much she misses her father in comments on a social network, Ask.fm, late last year.
Asked what she wanted at that time, Bethany replied simply, "For my daddy to come home."
U.S. building anti-ISIS coalition
The British government said earlier this month that it had attempted to rescue one of its citizens held by ISIS "some time ago" but had failed. It didn't provide any further details.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who announced last week that U.S. airstrikes would go after ISIS in Syria, condemned "the barbaric murder" of Haines.
"The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve," he said in a statement late Saturday.
The murderous, meteoric rise of ISIS -- which calls itself the Islamic State -- has caused alarm across the Middle East and beyond.
In his statement, Obama reiterated his intention "to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has spent recent days in the Middle East trying to build support for the U.S. strategy to combat ISIS.
Those efforts are expected to continue Monday in Paris, where France is hosting an international conference on the crisis in Iraq.
CNN's Greg Botelho, Atika Shubert, Nic Robertson, Deborah Bloom, Michael Pearson and Phillip Taylor contributed to this report.
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