"For more than half a century, Mike Wallace used the power
of broadcasting to report and deliver some of the most important news stories
of our time," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement Monday. "He
made an indelible mark, enriching not only the field of broadcast journalism
for future generations, but also the lives of the millions of Americans who
watched him each week. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and
loved ones at this difficult time."
Wallace, former 60
Minutes staple and longtime CBS newsman, died April 7 at age 93.
At the National Press Foundation awards dinner last month,
Wallace's son, Chris, talked about his father's legacy even as he suggested the
end was near. "I spent so much of my early life trying to get out from
under his shadow," he said. "Now as my father nears his 94th birthday
and is slipping away, I don't want you to forget him. He was vibrant, and
funny, and demanding, and a great reporter."
ABC World News anchor
and 60 Minutes alumna Diane Sawyer
said of her former colleague: "Mike's energy and nerve paced everyone at
Sixty Minutes. His was the defining spirit of the show. He bounded through the
halls with joy at the prospect of the new, the true, the unexpected."
