44 Facts About Ed Bradley

Ed Bradley moved to New York City in 1967 and worked for WCBS as a radio news reporter.

Four years later, Ed Bradley moved to Paris, France, where he covered the Paris Peace Accords as a stringer for CBS News.

Ed Bradley moved to Washington, DC following the wars and covered Jimmy Carter's first presidential campaign.

Ed Bradley became CBS News' first African American White House correspondent, holding the position from 1976 to 1978.

Ed Bradley's parents divorced when he was young and he was raised in a poor household by his mother, Gladys Gaston Bradley, and spent summers with his father, Edward Sr.

Ed Bradley attended high school at Mount Saint Charles Academy in Rhode Island and Saint Thomas More Catholic Boys School in Philadelphia, graduating from the latter in 1959.

Ed Bradley received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Cheyney State College in 1964.

Ed Bradley began his career as a math teacher in Philadelphia in 1964.

Ed Bradley was fluent in French, and while there was hired by CBS News as a stringer.

Ed Bradley transferred to Saigon in 1972 to report on the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War, as well as reporting on the Paris Peace Accords.

Ed Bradley transferred to CBS's Washington bureau in 1974, returning to Asia the following year to continue reporting on both wars.

Ed Bradley was one of the last American journalists to be evacuated in 1975 during the Fall of Saigon.

Ed Bradley was awarded Alfred I duPont and George Polk awards for his coverage in Vietnam and Cambodia.

In 1976, Ed Bradley was assigned to cover Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, as well as the Republican and Democratic national conventions, covering them until 1996.

Ed Bradley disliked the position as it tied him to the movements of the president.

Also in 1976, Ed Bradley began anchoring the Sunday night broadcasts of the CBS Evening News, holding the post until 1981.

Ed Bradley won the first of 20 News and Documentary Emmy Awards in his career for his 1979 documentary "The Boat People", reporting on Vietnamese refugees escaping the country via boat or ship, at one point wading into the water to assist in the rescue of the refugees.

Ed Bradley was noted for his ability to get interview subjects to divulge information on camera with his body language.

In 1986, Ed Bradley interviewed singer Liza Minnelli and expressed interest in wearing an earring.

Minnelli gave him a diamond stud after the interview, which Ed Bradley began wearing on air.

Ed Bradley was the first male reporter to consistently wear an earring on air, "challenging the notions of journalistic propriety", according to Robb Report writer Kristopher Fraser.

Ed Bradley became known for bucking fashion trends for newscasters.

Ed Bradley repeatedly turned down offers to anchor the CBS Evening News in the late 1980s, preferring instead to continue working on 60 Minutes.

Ed Bradley's reporting in the 1990s included such topics as Chinese forced labor camps, Russian military installations, and the effects of nuclear weapons testing near Semey, Kazakhstan.

Ed Bradley profiled numerous people, including Thomas Quasthoff, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson.

Ed Bradley won a series of awards for his reporting that decade, including Emmys, duPont citations, and a Peabody Award.

Ed Bradley interviewed high-profile people, such as Bob Dylan and Neil Armstrong, and conducted the only television interview with Timothy McVeigh.

Ed Bradley reported approximately 500 stories for 60 Minutes over his 25-year tenure with the program, more than any other correspondent over the same time period.

In 2005, Ed Bradley was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Black Journalists.

In 1989, Ed Bradley reported on daminozide, a chemical used on apples, as well as seven pesticides used on the fruit.

Ed Bradley's report called daminozide a carcinogen particularly dangerous to children and sparked a national panic.

Ed Bradley was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia in his later years, keeping the illness secret from many, including colleagues such as Wallace.

Ed Bradley died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on November 9,2006, at the age of 65.

Morley Safer described the themes of Ed Bradley's reporting as "justice, justice served and justice denied".

Ed Bradley's reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa has been credited with convincing drug companies to donate and discount drugs to treat the disease.

Ed Bradley's reporting on psychiatric hospitals in the US prompted federal investigations into the largest chains, and his reporting on the Duke lacrosse team has been credited with ensuring the accused had a fair trial.

Ed Bradley was seen as an inspiration for Black Americans, with columnist Clarence Page writing:.

Ed Bradley opened himself to the world and dared the world to turn him away.

Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Slant Magazine, said Ed Bradley forced audiences and the television news industry to "accept him on his own terms" and that he "annihilate[d] received wisdom about what it meant to be a professional journalist, a black man and an American".

Ed Bradley was named one of the "100 Outstanding American Journalists in the last 100 years" in 2012 by faculty at New York University.

Ed Bradley was fond of jazz and hosted Jazz at Lincoln Center on National Public Radio.

Ed Bradley performed with Jimmy Buffett and the Neville Brothers and was referred to as "the fifth Neville brother" by the group.

Ed Bradley was an outdoorsman, and often hiked or skied in his free time.

Ed Bradley married three times, to Diane Jefferson, Priscilla Coolidge, and Patricia Blanchet.