Bob Simon Dies In NYC Car Crash, ’60 Minutes’ Correspondent Dead At 73

Foreign reporter and CBS News’ “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon has been killed in a car accident in New York City.

The news reporter died at the age of 73 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident, the CBS News network announced.

Police told the NY Post that Simon was reportedly a passenger in a town car which collided into another vehicle in Manhattan around 7 p.m. ET. The car lost control after the collision and plowed into a pedestrian near on the West Side Highway near 30th Street.

Neither Simon’s cab driver nor the 23-year-old driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident were seriously injured, the Daily News reported.

The Associated Press reported that the veteran newsman was taken to a hospital, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Simon joined CBS back in 1967 and later 60 Minutes in 1996. Over the course of his career, he covered topics ranging from the Vietnam War to the nuclear crisis in Fukushima. His assignments placed him right in the middle of the conflict, which in one instance reported by the Huffington Post, led to his imprisonment in Iraq, as he was imprisoned in an Iraqi jail for 40 days while covering the Gulf War.

His story, “When Selma Meets Hollywood,” was broadcast just three days before his death.

The 60 Minutes television program is the oldest and most-watched news-magazine on American television. The program features a revolving team of CBS News correspondents who contribute segments to each hour-long episode. The first episode aired on September 24, 1968. The program was created by Don Hewitt and features writers Andy Rooney, Michael Gavshon, Robert Anderson, David Browning, Sumi Aggarwal, and Ruth Streeter.

The late news reporter was born Bob Simon on May 29, 1941. Born in the Bronx, the New Yorker served as an American Foreign Service officer from 1964 to 1967. In 1969, he served a tour in the CBS News London bureau which lasted until 1971, when he then served as a Vietnam War correspondent until 1977. In 1977, he was assigned to the CBS News Tel Aviv bureau.

Reports indicated that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Bob has won a total of 24 Emmy Awards. He’s also been the recipient of the Edward Weintal Prize in recognition of distinguished reporting on foreign policy and diplomacy. In addition, he’s won three George Foster Peabody Awards, including a Personal Award in 1999, as well as four Overseas Press Club Awards.

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