'60 Minutes' Journalist Dies at 65

Ed Bradley, an American journalist and best known for his award winning work on the long running CBS News television magazine ‘60 Minutes’, died yesterday due to complications of leukemia. He was 65.

Bradley's cardiologist Dr. Valentin Fuster informed that Bradley was diagnosed with leukemia many years ago, but the condition was not life threatening until October 2006.

After graduating in 1964 with a degree in Education, he started teaching children of the 6th grade, and also worked at WDAS in Philadelphia, programming music, reading news, and covering basketball games.

It was during the riots in Philadelphia in the 1960s that Bradley embarked on the journey of news reporting, landing a full-time job at the CBS owned New York radio station WCBS in 1967.

Bradley covered a lot of happenings of that time, including the Paris Peace Talks, the Vietnam War in 1972, the war in Cambodia, etc. He also covered the Carter campaign in 1976, becoming CBS News’ White House correspondent until 1978. He served as principal correspondent for CBS Reports from 1978 to 1981.

He joined the ’60 Minutes’ staff in 1981, being the only male correspondent to regularly wear an earring on the show, the first black White House correspondent and the first black correspondent on the network's newsmagazine.

Working for 26 years with ’60 Minutes’, he interviewed diverse figures like Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, singer Lena Horne, etc.

During his career span, Bradley received 20 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award for his African AIDS report, "Death By Denial", a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the Paul White Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association.

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Project for Excellence in Journalism, said that Bradley used his power to help specify what sorts of stories and what sorts of people deserved coverage.

"He broadened the definition of what was serious network television news; he talked about culture and politics," Rosenstiel said. "He was capable of doing an interview with a sports figure or a celebrity figure and it came across as sociological reporting."

Over the course of his career, he reached an eminent position and was a role model and mentor for many African-American journalists. He also paid for annual $10,000 scholarships for minority journalists.

"He was an icon and, more importantly for me, a pathbreaker," said Callie Crossley , a commentator who appears regularly on WGBH. Yesterday, the news of Mr. Bradley's passing sent gasps through a conference at WGBH sponsored by the National Black Programming Consortium, she said. Attendees held a moment of silence for Mr. Bradley, shared remembrances, and joined in a chorus of "Amazing Grace."

Staffers at the CBS glorified his personality and his death echoed outside CBS yesterday. "There are tears in newsrooms all over America," said Emily Rooney, the host of "Greater Boston."

One of the last times Bradley was seen in public was on October 4, 2006 with fellow ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Steve Kroft at Yankee Stadium. He is survived by his wife Patricia Blanchet.