Bob Simon, one of CBS News’ most established reporters, died today after getting into a car accident in New York City. He was 73 years old.
The longtime 60 Minutes correspondent and CBS News foreign reporter was the passenger of a Lincoln Town Car that hit another vehicle at a red light and crashed into the barriers in the middle of the road, according to the Wall Street Journal. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead on arrival, while the 44-year-old Town Car driver was reportedly in stable condition.
Said 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager in a CBS News press statement.
It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult situations than almost any journalist in modern times.
Indeed. Born in 1941, Simon got his start at CBS News in 1967 after serving as an American Foreign Service officer, and his career took him from stations in New York City to Washington D.C. to Saigon to Tel Avivk with many places in between. His Vietnam War reporting was award-winning, and he was reportedly one of the last journalists to leave Saigon in 1975. Simon's work during the Gulf War was just as notable, as was his reporting on conflicts in Somalia, Haiti, Portugal and Northern, to again name but a few. (His 1992 book Forty Days was about his experiences while imprisoned for 40 days in Iraq.)
He joined the 60 Minutes team as a contributor in 1996, and after spending six years as a full-time correspondent on 60 Minutes II, he moved onto the same job at the flagship series. The last 60 Minutes interview Simon did, which aired this past weekend, was an interesting talk with Ana DuVernay, the director of Selma. You can watch it below.
When it comes to accolades, Bob Simon had many. He was the recipient of a whopping 27 Emmy Awards for his global reporting, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, when he still had twelve years of reporting to do. He received several Overseas Press Club awards, as well as four Peabody Awards, including a personal one for his career. As well, he won a Sports Emmy for his coverage during the 1998 Winter Olympics about former P.O.W. Olympian Louis Zamperini’s inspirational story.
We at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to Bob Simon’s family and friends in their time of mourning.
