February 12th, 2015
As our Facebook fans and Twitter followers learned late last night, longtime CBS News reporter Bob Simon was killed in an auto accident last night (2/11) in New York City.
The 73-year old newsman is best known for his war reporting for the network, from Vietnam to Iraq — where, in 1991, he and his crew were captured and held for more than 40 days.
While a familiar face to millions from his years on television, CBS Radio News VP Harvey Nagler told NTS MediaOnline Today that one of the things he loved most about Simon was that he also loved doing radio — as this story from CBS Evening News anchorScott Pelley clearly demonstrates:
“During the first Gulf War we had a plan that if there was ever an air raid where our CBS Bureau was, we’d all muster in the bureau, everyone would be accounted of and we’d go to the bomb shelter.
Well, one night, sure enough the air raid sirens go off, the scud missiles are coming into Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and there are explosions everywhere. Everybody musters in the bureau, but we can’t find Bob.
Then I found him — on the roof of the building and on the phone with CBS Radio, describing the explosions.
In that moment, I said to myself, ‘Got it! That’s what a war correspondent does.’” Simon was a part of the CBS News family for nearly five decades. He’s survived by his wife Francoise, daughter Tanya (a 60 Minutes producer), son-in-law Dr. Evan Garfein and grandson Jack.
