Ed Bradley Dies

[JSngry]

Hey - Charlie Rouse played with Monk. Gotta respect that.

[ValerieB]

I haven't watched 60 Minutes in decades, so I'm surprised to read that so many here respect Ed Bradley's opinions regarding music.

The only expression of enthusiasm of his that I was aware of was for The Neville Brothers.

When 60 Minutes did a piece on Tom Harrell they chose Charlie Rose to do it.

fyi: jazz was a part of ed bradley's life from the time he was a young man. he was even a jazz dj for some time. he was always at jazz festivals and jazz clubs. he was very involved with jazz at lincoln center.

[BruceH]

This was quite a shock. I had no idea he had leukemia. My heart goes out to his family, friends and colleagues. I long thought of him as the most likeable and dependable of the 60 Minutes bunch.

[Chalupa]

Posted on Fri, Nov. 10, 2006

TV pioneer mixed tenacity with style

By Gail Shister

Inquirer TV Columnist

For a reporter who lived for the big story, 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley kept the most important story of his life to himself.

Mr. Bradley, known as "Butch" in his old West Philadelphia neighborhood, died yesterday at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital from leukemia. Most of his CBS colleagues were not aware he had the disease.

"To my knowledge, no one knew," says Mike Wallace, 88, an original 60 Minutes correspondent now in his 39th season. "We knew he was sick, but he was in good shape. He was a strong man."

Mr. Bradley, 65, a fitness fanatic and former football player at Cheyney State University, underwent bypass surgery in 2003. Over the last year, coworkers say, he began to look thinner and less robust.

60 Minutes' first - and only - African American regular correspondent, Mr. Bradley won 20 Emmy Awards during his 26 seasons there. His reports ranged from Columbine to AIDS in Africa to Lena Horne (his favorite story).

His was the only TV interview with the condemned Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. More recently, his investigation last month of the Duke University lacrosse rape case, including the first interviews with the defendants, drew 60 Minutes' largest audience in 10 months.

News was not Mr. Bradley's only passion. A serious jazzman, he occasionally went on the road with pal Jimmy Buffett and played with the band.

At 60 Minutes, the staff knew Mr. Bradley was in town when jazz was playing softly in his dimly lit, plant-filled office.

For more than a decade, he hosted NPR's syndicated weekly series Jazz at Lincoln Center, heard locally on WRTI-FM. He even wore an earring.

"I think he was the coolest person I ever knew," says Bob Schieffer, CBS's chief Washington correspondent and moderator of Face the Nation. "He was very hip, and he knew about things that nobody else knew about."

How hip? At the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Schieffer says, he remembers his two teenage daughters (CBS interns at the event) turning down a night out with Dad.

"Susan said, 'I'd love to, but Mr. Bradley is taking a group of us to see Little Feat,' " he says. "I didn't know who Little Feat was. It reminded me how totally out of the loop I was."

Mr. Bradley, who left teaching elementary school to join WDAS radio in the early '60s, was an icon to Philadelphia's black community, says Inquirer editor emeritus Acel Moore, a friend for more than 30 years.

"He never forgot from where he came. For African Americans from Philadelphia, he was one of the pioneers. He inspired a lot of people and he touched a lot of lives. This is a major loss."

Longtime local radio talk-show host Mary Mason recalls Mr. Bradley as "top of the heap, man... . He was always so helpful. He'd do anything in the world for people. Even when he got [his New York job], he would never, ever forget us."

When Mason introduced Mr. Bradley at a school assembly in Philadelphia, he sat on the steps and spoke to students instead of standing behind a lectern, she says.

"I told him he could speak for 20, 25 minutes. He talked for an hour and a half. I figured he had a car waiting for him outside. He told me he took the train."

Mr. Bradley's public speaking prowess was well known inside CBS, Schieffer says. "He could preach a better sermon than a Baptist preacher."

Mr. Bradley was equally devoted to mentoring young African Americans, Schieffer says.

"He always had some kid following him around. He was the softest touch in town."

Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, praised Mr. Bradley in a statement as "a consummate professional who defined investigative journalism for a generation. His interviewing skills were second to none. As a member and a friend, we will miss him greatly." NABJ presented Mr. Bradley with its Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

At 60 Minutes' offices yesterday, staffers were weeping and in shock, says Jeff Fager, executive producer of the groundbreaking newsmagazine. Fager says he knew about Mr. Bradley's leukemia.

"We've never had a loss like this. It's a tragedy. Not only did he make us look better every time he touched a story, he made our lives better by his decency and his manner and his ability to care."

"Everybody loved him," says Wallace. "He was a good, honest, straightforward guy.

"And he had the most beautiful mother I had ever seen in my life. She came into the office on one occasion. She was as tall as he. Her hair was pure white, and there was a lot of it. She was an absolutely stunning woman."

What made Mr. Bradley's death even more shocking, Fager says, was how quickly he spiraled downward. Just over a week ago, Mr. Bradley was in the office recording narration for his piece the following day on the explosion of an oil tanker in Texas.

60 Minutes' entire broadcast Sunday will be devoted to Mr. Bradley, Fager says. That has happened only once before, when Wallace retired from the show in May.

Mr. Bradley joined CBS in 1971 as a part-time correspondent in the Paris bureau after a stint at CBS-owned WCBS Radio in New York. A year later, he was transferred to the Saigon bureau and became one of the most visible African Americans covering the Vietnam War. He was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia in 1973.

In 1974, Mr. Bradley moved to the Washington bureau. Over the next seven years, he covered the Jimmy Carter White House, anchored the Sunday-evening news, and was principal correspondent for CBS Reports before arriving at 60 Minutes.

Three weeks ago, Mr. Bradley was to have received an award from Temple University's School of Communications. When he had to cancel, he told organizers not to have anyone accept on his behalf because he would pick it up himself when he could travel, according to dean Conchetta Stewart.

"He is emblematic of the kind of newsperson we want our students to be," she says. "We all admired him deeply. He was the real deal."

Mr. Bradley is survived by his wife, Patricia Blanchet. No funeral arrangements were announced yesterday.

To view a slide show of Ed Bradley's career, visit http://go.philly.com/edbradley

[Dan Gould]

And the award for All-Time Greatest Non-Sequitor goes to:

A serious jazzman, he occasionally went on the road with pal Jimmy Buffett and played with the band.

[BERIGAN]

So....are some of the white folks here saying Ed Bradley wasn't black enough???

[JSngry]

Not that I've read.

[chris]

So....are some of the white folks here saying Ed Bradley wasn't black enough???

No-- I think some are saying that Jimmy Buffet is too black though...

[Cali]

Another thing I liked about Mr. Bradley was his fashion sense. The man was clean.

[Jim R]

I haven't watched 60 Minutes in decades, so I'm surprised to read that so many here respect Ed Bradley's opinions regarding music.

? Huh? I don't understand how one follows the other there. Did you read the thread? Have you never heard the radio show from Lincoln Center which Bradley hosted?

When 60 Minutes did a piece on Tom Harrell they chose Charlie Rose to do it.

I'm surprised. I rarely watch 60 Minutes, but I know from watching Rose's talk show on PBS that the man knows very little about music... or shall I say understands very little about music. I guess he's okay when it comes to interviewing politicians and political analysts, but when it comes to music and the arts...

[GA Russell]

Have you never heard the radio show from Lincoln Center which Bradley hosted?

Nope, never heard of it. When is it on?

[Jim R]

Have you never heard the radio show from Lincoln Center which Bradley hosted?

Nope, never heard of it. When is it on?

That would depend on the station where you access it. Try can try this (which would come on at midnight on Tuesdays where you are):

Info on "Jazz at Lincoln Center with Ed Bradley" at KCSM / Jazz 91 / San Mateo, CA

How to listen to KCSM on the web

Or, search for a web-streaming station in your time zone that carries the show.

[Soulstation1]

anyone see the tribute on 60 minutes tonight?

[Rooster_Ties]

Not sure if this was it, or not, but this was interesting...

(official Youtube video, uploaded by CBS)

Another video worth a view...

MSNBC segment on Ed Bradley

Edited November 13, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[BERIGAN]

Not sure if this was it, or not, but this was interesting...

(official Youtube video, uploaded by CBS)

Another video worth a view...

MSNBC segment on Ed Bradley

No, the whole show was a tribute to him. They should have made it 2 hours. They showed very short clips(Like the famous Lena Horne interview) but it was nice that they talked to many of his friends,(His cameraman in Vietnam felt closer to him than his own brothers) and a decent bio. In the clip you have from CBS, they show him waving goodbye to folks on an island. On 60 minutes they showed that while he was on the island, he was handed roughly a 1000 letters for Ed to send to their family members in the States. One even swam out to hand him one as they were taking off, you could tell how moved he was. That's why everyone was waving.....

Edited November 13, 2006 by BERIGAN

[Stereojack]

I watched the 60 Minutes tribute, and could easily have watched another hour. A moving tribute to a real pro.

[ValerieB]

I watched the 60 Minutes tribute, and could easily have watched another hour. A moving tribute to a real pro.

two enormous "amens" to that! i thought the personal reminisces were best of all, including wynton's. it's obvious that of all the "60 minutes" journalists, steve kroft was the closest to ed. i am hoping to be able to get a program book from friday's funeral since a friend of mine is part of the team that is coordinating it.

[BruceH]

I watched the 60 Minutes tribute, and could easily have watched another hour. A moving tribute to a real pro.

Yes! I saw it and I agree 100%.