A journalism legend who was also known to be a great human being has passed from the scene:
Ed Bradley, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent and one of the pioneering black journalists of his generation, died today of leukemia at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. He was 65.
Bradley, who had won 19 Emmy awards, covered an incredible array of stories after joining the CBS newsmagazine in 1981, from brain cancer to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to the high school shootings at Columbine.
He also reported a number of award-winning documentaries, covered political conventions and filled in on the “CBS Evening News” and other programs.
Bradley remained active on “60 Minutes,” but he had been ill for some time and underwent heart surgery about a year ago.
“He was this gentle giant,” said Bob Schieffer, CBS’s chief Washington correspondent and a close friend. “He just did so much for so many African-American kids. He was a great role model.”
And perhaps that was some of it.
But it wouldn’t have mattered, honestly, what race Bradley was. The fact is, he was one of that truly small group of journalists — there are handful in print and broadcast media — who are in a class way above the others because of the quality, integrity and consistency of their work and for being a good person. He will be missed, as a role model for all journalists and all of us.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.