’60 Minutes’ Remembers Bob Simon With Touching Tribute

Simon died in car accident on February 11th at the age of 73

CBS

CBS’ “60 Minutes’” paid tribute to the late Bob Simon Sunday with a special segment that looked back at the veteran newsman’s life and extraordinary career.

In one 24-minute report by Steve Kroft — uninterrupted by commercial break — the story looked back at Simon’s body of work, and his 47 years at CBS News.

As the segment wrapped, Kroft revealed Simon had struggled with depression.

“Eventually he always snapped out of it,” Kroft said. Executive Producer Jeff Fager also revealed Simon’s last day at “60 Minutes” was his proudest — he’d just gotten a story he worked on with his daughter scheduled for the upcoming “60 Minutes.”

“He walked around and told everyone who would listen that his story had bumped another,” Fager joked.

Fager also noted the legendary correspondent’s impact on the newsmagazine: “It’s a really big hole,” he said. “I think it really does have an impact on ’60 Minutes,’ because you can fill his job, but you can’t replace Bob Simon.”

“He’d rather be out covering a story anywhere in the world than be stuck in an office,” Fager concluded.

During his prolific career, Simon covered the fighting in the former Yugoslavia and the slaughter by Serb troops of more than 8,000 Muslim civilians in Srebrenica.

He also frequently reported on conflicts in the Middle East, and covered the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed some 280,000 from Indonesia to India

Simon died on February 11th in a New York City car crash.

Watch the “60 Minutes” video with Simon.

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