Bob Simon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bob Simon
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Simon c. 2013
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| Born |
Robert David Simon
May 29, 1941 The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
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| Died | February 11, 2015 (aged 73) Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
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| Occupation | News reporter |
| Years active | 1969–2015 |
| Television | 60 Minutes (1996–2015) |
| Spouse(s) |
Françoise Simon
(m. 1966) |
| Children | 1 |
Robert David Simon (born May 29, 1941 – died February 11, 2015) was a famous American television reporter. He worked for CBS News and reported from many places around the world. He covered wars, big events, and times of trouble in 67 different countries.
Bob Simon reported on important events like the American troops leaving Vietnam. He also covered the conflict between Israel and Lebanon in 1982. In 1989, he reported on student protests in China's Tiananmen Square.
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, he and his TV crew were captured. They were held in Iraq for 40 days. He later wrote a book about this experience called Forty Days.
In 1996, he became a regular reporter for CBS's 60 Minutes. He was known as a "giant of broadcast journalism." He was one of the few reporters who covered most major conflicts overseas since 1969. For his long career, he won over 40 major awards. These included the Overseas Press Club award and 27 Emmy Awards.
On February 11, 2015, Bob Simon was in a car accident in New York City. He was taken to the hospital but sadly died shortly after.
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Early life and education
Bob Simon was born in The Bronx, New York City. His family was Jewish. In 1962, he graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in history. He was a very good student.
From 1964 to 1967, Simon worked for the American Foreign Service. This meant he helped represent the U.S. in other countries. He also studied in France as a Fulbright Scholar.
In 1969, he started working for CBS News in London. From 1971 to 1977, he reported from London and Saigon. He was a reporter during the Vietnam War. Later, from 1977 to 1981, he worked in the CBS News office in Tel Aviv.
Career highlights
Bob Simon began his reporting career in 1969. He first reported on The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In 1971, he started covering the war in Vietnam. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his reports on the Hanoi's Easter Offensive.
He won another award for covering the last six weeks of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He was on one of the last helicopters to leave in 1975. In later years, he reported from war zones in Grenada, Somalia, and Haiti.
He was in Poland during martial law and with Israeli troops during the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict. He also reported from Egypt after the uprisings in 2011.
From 1981 to 1982, Simon worked in Washington, D.C. He was the CBS News reporter for the United States Department of State. From 1982 to 1987, he was a national reporter in New York. In 1987, he became the CBS News Chief Middle Eastern reporter.
Captured in the Gulf War
In January 1991, at the start of the Gulf War, Bob Simon and his CBS News team were captured. Iraqi forces held them for 40 days in an Iraqi prison. Most of this time, he was kept alone.
Simon later said that crossing the border was a "careless mistake." He wrote about his experience in his book, Forty Days.
Reporting for 60 Minutes
In 1996, Simon joined 60 Minutes as a reporter. He also worked for 60 Minutes II for seven seasons. After 2005, he became a full-time reporter for 60 Minutes.
His reports from around the world were shown on all CBS News programs. He won more than 40 major awards for his work. This included the Overseas Press Club's highest honor, the President's Award. Simon also received 27 Emmy Awards. This is thought to be the most won by a field journalist.
David Rhodes, the president of CBS News, called him "a giant of broadcast journalism." Dan Rather, a former CBS News anchor, said Simon was "one of the best writers ever to work in television journalism." Rather worked with Simon for 38 years. He described Simon as an "old school" journalist who loved challenging and dangerous assignments.
He didn't just witness history, he strived to understand it. Yes, he was fearless when bullets were flying, but he also never blinked when staring down a despot or thug in an interview... There was no issue he couldn't cover, no story he couldn't tell.
Award-winning stories
Bob Simon's many award-winning stories took him all over the world. He won his fourth Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for a story about the only all-black symphony orchestra in Africa. He won his 27th Emmy for a report about an orchestra in Paraguay. The musicians in this orchestra made their instruments from trash.
Simon reported from Pakistan after earthquakes there. He also reported from Japan after the 2011 earthquake in Fukushima. This event led to a tsunami and a nuclear disaster. He also won Emmy Awards for his reporting from Vietnam, Lebanon, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, India, and China.
He covered conflicts in Portugal, Cyprus, the Falkland islands, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, Grenada, Somalia, and Haiti. After the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, he won an Emmy. This was for covering the attempt by Mossad, Israel's secret intelligence agency, to get revenge for the deaths of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972.
During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he did a 30-minute report on Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was an American Olympic runner who survived World War II as a Japanese prisoner of war. Simon received a Sports Emmy for this story.
In 2011, Simon was allowed to visit Mount Athos. He made a two-part 60 Minutes report about the monks living there.
Death
On February 11, 2015, Bob Simon was in a serious car accident. It happened on the West Side Highway in Manhattan, New York. The driver of his car lost control and crashed into another vehicle. Rescue workers helped Simon out of the car. He was taken to St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital, but he died a short time later.
Honors and awards
Bob Simon won many important awards for his reporting. He received three Peabody Awards and 27 Emmy Awards. In 2012, he won an Emmy for his report on the world's only all-black symphony orchestra in Central Africa. He won another Emmy for his story about the orchestra in Paraguay that made instruments from trash.
He received the Overseas Press Club's highest honor, the President's Award, four times. He also received the Edward Weintal Prize from Georgetown University. This award recognized his excellent reporting on foreign policy.
After his 60 Minutes II report called "Shame of Srebrenica," he won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. This report was about genocide during the Bosnian War.
See also
In Spanish: Bob Simon para niños
