Veteran “60 Minutes” Correspondent Bob Simon Killed In Car Crash

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CBS News confirmed that the longtime television journalist died Wednesday night in New York. He was 73.

Bob Simon, a longtime correspondent with CBS’ 60 Minutes, died in a car crash Wednesday night, CBS confirmed.

Simon, 73, also worked as a foreign correspondent in his five-decade news career.

He was a passenger in a livery cab on the West Side Highway in Manhattan Wednesday evening, the New York Post reported. The Lincoln Town Car collided with a Mercedes, the Post reported.

After hitting the Mercedes, which was stopped at a traffic light, the Lincoln crashed into metal barriers separating lanes, the Associated Press reported.

Simon was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver was left with injuries to his legs and arms.

The driver of the Mercedes said the livery driver swerved and apparently lost control before the crash, Post reported

Simon is survived by his wife, Francoise, and daughter Tanya, who is a producer at 60 Minutes, the New York Daily News reported.

Starting with Vietnam, Simon worked in war zones around the world. His field reporting earned him an “unprecedented” number of awards, including 27 Emmys, according to his CBS biography.

His work took him to Northern Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, The Falklands, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, Grenada, Somalia, Haiti, and Poland. In 1987, he was named CBS’ chief Middle East correspondent, and he worked out of a bureau in Tel Aviv for 20 years.
In 1991, Simon and his team were reporting on the beginning of the Gulf War when they were captured by Iraqi forces.

They spent 40 days in an Iraqi prison, an experience he recounted in a book, Forty Days.

“I decided to write a book about it if I survived,” Simon wrote. “It would be another dimension of my revenge. The Iraqis had captured me, so I would capture the experience, deal the last blow.”
During his captivity, CBS News prepared an obituary in the event of his death. They gave it to him when he was safely released.

He later returned to Iraq several times as he continued to report on conflicts. He began contributing to 60 Minutes in 1996, most recently covering the film Selma, as well as internet security.

CBS News broke into regularly scheduled programming with a special report announcing Simon’s death:

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