R.I.P.: Bob Simon Of CBS News Killed In Accident

Bob Simon

UPDATE 1PM 2/12/2015:   A preliminary investigation by New York City police has determined “speed may have been a factor” in the car crash that killed “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, a law-enforcement official said Thursday.

The impact of the crash caused severe trauma to Mr. Simon’s head and neck, and he was in cardiac arrest as he was being transported to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, the official said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at 7:23 p.m., the official said.

Earlier Posting...

Bob Simon, the longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent and legendary CBS News foreign reporter died suddenly Wednesday night in a car accident in New York City.

The award-winning newsman was 73, according to CBS News.

"Bob Simon was a giant of broadcast journalism, and a dear friend to everyone in the CBS News family. We are all shocked by this tragic, sudden loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob's extended family and especially with our colleague Tanya Simon," said CBS News President David Rhodes.

"It's a terrible loss for all of us at CBS News," 60 Minutes Executive Producer Jeff Fager said in a 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.

"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. "There is no one else like Bob Simon. All of us at CBS News and particularly at 60 Minutes will miss him very much."

NY Daily News photo

Simon was riding in the backseat of a livery cab around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday on New York City's West Side Highway when the car rear-ended another vehicle and crashed into barriers separating north- and southbound traffic, the New York Police Department said in a statement. Unconscious with head and torso injuries, Simon was transported to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital where he died. The livery cab driver was taken to another hospital with injuries to his arms and legs. Police were investigating but made no arrests.




Over a 47-year career at CBS News, Simon earned more than 40 major awards, including 27 Emmys, believed to be the most ever earned for a field reporter and four Peabody Awards.

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Simon joined CBS in 1967 and covered unrest on college campuses, inner-city riots and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He found his niche as a war reporter covering the Vietnam war. He left Saigon on one of the last helicopters out of the city in 1975. He covered conflicts in Northern Ireland and Portugal

He also covered American military actions in Grenada, Somalia and Haiti. He was assigned to CBS's Tel Aviv bureau, then to DC's State Dept bureau. He returned to New York as a national correspondent, then back to Tel Aviv as chief Middle East correspondent. He was last working on a piece on Ebola with his daughter who is a producer at 60 Minutes.

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