60 Minutes Correspondent Bob Simon Killed in Car Crash

 Posted on September 27, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1365 words  |  Valeria Galgano

“60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, the CBS News veteran who made his name covering overseas hot spots, was killed in a car accident Wednesday night in New York City, according to CBS. He was 73.

Simon was the passenger in a hired car that lost control and slammed into another vehicle near West 32nd Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan at 6:45 p.m. ET, the New York Fire Department said. Simon was transported to a hospital where he died.

In his prime, Simon was the epitome of the hard-charging foreign correspondent willing to parachute into war-torn regions and other dangerous situations to bring world news to America’s living rooms. Simon spent the past two decades as a contributor to “60 Minutes,” the last chapter of a nearly 50-year career at CBS, starting out as a reporter and assignment editor in New York in 1967.

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During his many years working in the Middle East, Simon was known for riding a motorcycle to the site of many stories — a way of ensuring that traffic jams would not delay him from getting the story. His dedication, reporting skill and derring-do Simon earned him some 27 Emmy Awards and four Peabody honors, including a special 1999 Peabody commendation for his body of international reporting.

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In 1991 Simon made international headlines when he and three other CBS News staffers were imprisoned by Iraqi forces for 40 days during the first Gulf War. Simon later wrote a book about the experience, “Forty Days.”

“60 Minutes” exec producer Jeff Fager praised Simon’s legacy and dedication to his work.

“Bob was a reporter’s reporter. He was driven by a natural curiosity that took him all over the world covering every kind of story imaginable,” Fager said. The shock of his death amounts to “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,” Fager added.

Simon’s first overseas posting was in CBS’ London bureau in 1969, where he covered unrest in Northern Ireland. He reported on the Vietnam War extensively in the mid-1970s. He was there for the final weeks of the American involvement and caught one of the last helicopters out of Saigon in 1975.

Simon also worked out of CBS’ Tel-Aviv bureau from 1977-81 during a highly volatile period for Israel and the Middle East. During in the 1980s he worked as a national correspondent and State Department correspondent. But by 1987 he was back overseas as chief Middle Eastern correspondent, which put him in a position to cover with great authority both U.S. military actions in Iraq, as well as the rise of Al Qaeda and other highly organized terrorist groups.

Simon’s globe-trotting work encompassed everything from CBS’ Olympics coverage to the birth of the Solidarity movement in Poland to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison to famine in Africa. Simon appeared on virtually every CBS News broadcast during his long run at the network.

Among Simon’s most powerful investigative reports was the “Shame of Srebrenica” story he did for “60 Minutes II” on the failure of United Nations’ peacekeepers to prevent the massacre of more than 8,000 civilians in the Bosnian War.

Beyond his expertise in world news and war reporting, Simon also excelled at uncovering human interest stories, such as his 2012 Emmy-winning report on an orchestra in the Congo, a profile of actor Roberto Benigni or the 2010 visit to Greece’s “Holy Mountain” to document the lives of monks.

Born in the Bronx to parents who were both European immigrants, Simon grew up in Queens and Long Island. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1962 with a degree in history. He went to France to study at the University of Lyon on a Fulbright fellowship. He then worked as an American Foreign Service officer and with the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. There he met CBS’ chief UN correspondent Richard Hottelet, who helped him land a job at CBS News.

Simon was a prolific producer for “60 Minutes.” He appeared on the show this past Sunday with a segment about the Oscar-nommed movie “Selma” and director Ava DuVernay. He had been working with his daughter, “60 Minutes” producer Tanya Simon, on a report about the search for a cure for the Ebola virus that was set to air on Sunday’s edition of the newsmagazine show.

“Stunned,” DuVernay wrote on Twitter late Wednesday. “We spent time together on my 60 Minutes piece just a few weeks ago. My goodness. May God rest his soul.”

SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard issued a statement in tribute to Simon, saying “This is just heartbreaking for me. 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.”

“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley also paid tribute to his colleague on Twitter, calling him “a journalist of extraordinary courage.”

One of the great writers of a generation has passed. Bob Simon was a journalist of extraordinary courage.

— Scott Pelley (@ScottPelley) February 12, 2015

In addition to his daughter, survivors include Simon’s wife, Francoise, and a grandson.

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