27 Facts About Bob Simon

Robert David Simon was an American television correspondent for CBS News.

Bob Simon covered crises, war, and unrest in 67 countries during his career.

Bob Simon reported the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict in 1982, and the student protests in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Bob Simon published a book about the experience titled Forty Days.

Bob Simon became a regular correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes in 1996 and, in 1999, for 60 Minutes II.

Bob Simon is described as having been "a giant of broadcast journalism" by CBS News President David Rhodes.

Bob Simon is recognized as one of the few journalists who have covered most of the major overseas conflicts since 1969.

On February 11,2015, Bob Simon was critically injured in a car crash in Manhattan, New York.

Bob Simon was born to a Jewish family in The Bronx in New York City.

From 1964 to 1967, Bob Simon served as an American Foreign Service officer and was a Fulbright Scholar in France and a Woodrow Wilson scholar.

Bob Simon began reporting news in 1969, during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Bob Simon won another as part of the team that covered the final six weeks of US involvement, where he boarded one of the last helicopters to leave in 1975.

Bob Simon was in Poland during martial law, with Israeli troops during the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict, and in Egypt following the uprisings in 2011.

From 1981 to 1982, Bob Simon spent time in Washington, DC, as the CBS News State Department correspondent.

From 1982 to 1987, Bob Simon served as a New York-based CBS News national correspondent, and in 1987, was named the CBS News Chief Middle Eastern correspondent.

Bob Simon later said that it was a "careless mistake" for him and his crew to have crossed the border, and he chronicled the experience in the book Forty Days.

In 1996, Bob Simon joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent, and he was a correspondent for seven seasons on 60 Minutes II, from January 1999 to June 2005, after which he became a full-time correspondent.

Bob Simon received 27 Emmy Awards, believed to be the most earned by a field journalist.

Bob Simon's numerous award-winning stories during his 47-year career took him throughout the world: He won his fourth Peabody Award along with an Emmy Award for covering the world's only all-black symphony in Africa, and won his 27th Emmy for broadcasting details about an orchestra in Paraguay that could only afford to make their instruments out of trash.

Bob Simon reported from Pakistan after their earthquakes and later from Japan after the 2011 earthquake in Fukushima, which led to a tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Bob Simon has won Emmy Awards for his reporting from Vietnam, Lebanon, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, India, and China.

War zone stories covered by Bob Simon include conflicts in Portugal, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, Grenada, Somalia, and Haiti.

In 2011, Bob Simon was granted access to Mount Athos and made a two-part 60 Minutes report on the monks.

On February 11,2015, Bob Simon was discovered unconscious with severe head injuries in a car crash on the West Side Highway of Manhattan, New York.

Bob Simon won three Peabody Awards and 27 Emmy Awards, including a 2012 Emmy for his report on the world's only all-black symphony orchestra in Central Africa.

Bob Simon was a four-time recipient of the Overseas Press Club's highest honor for a body of work, the President's Award.

Bob Simon received the Edward Weintal Prize given by Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in recognition of distinguished reporting on foreign policy and diplomacy.