Longtime 60 Minutes newsman Bob Simon died Wednesday night. He was 73.
The industry veteran was killed in a car crash in New York City.
Simon, who has been a fixture on the newsmagazine since 1996 and also worked on 60 Minutes II, began his career in journalism in the 1960s for CBS News, reporting on a wide range of foreign affairs stories such as the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and, more recently, the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan and the exodus of Palestinian Christians from the Holy Land.
He won 27 Emmys during his career, including multiple for his work on 60 Minutes. The Bronx-born journalist also won a 1999 Peabody Award for his international reporting for CBS News as well as a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003.
Colleague Anderson Cooper paid tribute to Simon during his CNN program Anderson Cooper 360, saying "Bob was, and I'll tell you it's very hard to talk about him in the past tense, but Bob was for the last five decades certainly one of the best and in my opinion the best in the world at getting a story, telling a story, writing a story and making it simply unforgettable."
CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley also expressed his sentiments.
"One of the great writers of a generation has passed. Bob Simon was a journalist of extraordinary courage," tweeted Pelley.
"SAG-AFTRA mourns the tragic loss of SAG-AFTRA member and 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon," the union said in a statement.
“This is just heartbreaking for me," said SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard. "Like most folks who knew Bob, I greatly admired his work. He was a bold reporter who never let fear get in the way of fulfilling his duty as a journalist. The obstacles and challenges he faced and overcame made him and his work extraordinary. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.”
In 2003, Simon shared an AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Award in Broadcasting (AMEE), with fellow journalists from 60 Minutes.
Simon is survived by his wife, Françoise, and daughter Tanya, who works as a producer on 60 Minutes.
