The legendary 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace has died. For more than 40 years the newsman worked and interviewed some of the most high-profile subjects of his time. Wallace’s death was announced earlier on CBS News Sunday Morning by Charles Osgood.
The anchor was one of 60 Minutes’ original hosts when its program started in 1968. Wallace retired in 2006 but, itching to still be a part of the business, he continued to contribute to the program. His last interview on the show was in 2008 when he interviewed the baseball player accused of being a steroid-user, Roger Clemens.
The passing was due to illness. Back in 2008, Wallace underwent triple heart-bypass surgery, a procedure that doctors called “a great success.”
In an essay for CBS, 60 Minutes’ colleague Morely Safer wrote that Wallace “took to heart the old reporter’s pledge to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. He characterized himself as ‘nosy and insistent.'”
“So insistent, there were very few 20th century icons who didn’t submit to a Mike Wallace interview. He lectured Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, on corruption. He lectured Yassir Arafat on violence.” wrote Safer.
Wallace was 93.
