Bob Simon '60 Minutes' correspondent dies in car crash in Manhattan
Bob Simon, the veteran CBS News reporter and "60 Minutes" correspondent, died in a car crash Wednesday in Manhattan, according to reports. He was 73.
Simon was a passenger in a livery cab that sideswiped a Mercedes-Benz sedan stopped at a red light on 12th Avenue near West 30th Street about 6:45 p.m., the police said, according to CBS News.
The wreck left the black Town Car a twisted tangle of steel, and Simon, who suffered head and chest injuries and was unresponsive, was taken along with the car's driver were taken to Saint Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where Simon was pronounced dead.
Police will interview the driver of the car-for-hire Simon was in and determine whether speed may have played a role.
"He swerved into me," the Mercedes driver told The New York Post of the driver of the car Simon was in. "He hit me and he looked like he lost control of the car."
His colleagues are mourning the loss of a legendary reporter. He won 27 Emmys in his career, and was the recipient of four Peabody Awards. "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."
He is survived by his wife, Françoise Simon, and a daughter, Tanya, who is a producer for 60 Minutes.
