NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Veteran reporter Bob Simon, a longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent, died on Wednesday night in a car accident in New York City.
According to CBS News, Simon was riding in the back of a livery cab traveling on the city's West Side Highway when the car rear-ended another vehicle and crashed into the median barrier. Simon was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt and was seriously injured in the incident and later pronounced dead at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.
Simon, who was 73 at the time of his death, had a long career as a foreign correspondant, winning 40 major awards, including 27 Emmys and four Peabody Awards for his coverage of everything from the Vietnam war to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"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.
Simon was no stranger to dangerous situations and in 1991, Simon was taken hostage and held for 40 days in Iraq during the early days of the first Gulf War.
"This was the most searing experience of my life," Simon told the Los Angeles Times. "…I wrote about it because I needed to write about it."
Simon is survived by his wife, Françoise, and their daughter, Tanya, her husband, Dr. Evan Garfein, and his grandson Jack. – Staff Writers
