CBS News legend Mike Wallace, the "60 Minutes" pit-bull reporter whose probing, brazen style made his name synonymous with the tough interview, died last night. He was 93 and passed peacefully surrounded by family members at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan, Conn., where he spent the past few years.
"All of us at CBS News and particularly at '60 Minutes' owe so much to Mike. Without him and his iconic style, there probably wouldn't be a '60 Minutes,' said Jeff Fager, chairman CBS News and executive producer of "60 Minutes."
As the journalism world reacted to the iconic newsman's passing, the AP's David Bauder noted the "60 Minutes" journalist's reputation as a pitiless inquisitor was so fearsome that the words "Mike Wallace is here to see you" were the most dreaded words in the English language; capable of reducing an interview subject to a shaking, sweating mess.
"Wallace didn't just interview people," wrote Bauder on Sunday. "He interrogated them. He cross-examined them. Sometimes he eviscerated them. His weapons were many: thorough research, a cocked eyebrow, a skeptical 'Come on' and a question so direct sometimes it took your breath away."
"He loved it," Fager said Sunday. "He loved that part of Mike Wallace. He loved being Mike Wallace. ..."
Much more (w/video, photo gallery, links):
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57411053/cbs-iconic-newsman-mike-wallace-dead-at-93/
Blog, a searchable database of obituaries
back to 2001:
http://DeadCelebrityAlert.com
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