Morley Safer, a celebrated television journalist known for his long-time role on the CBS program "60 Minutes," died Thursday at 84, the network announced. "Morley was one of the most important journalists in any medium, ever," said CBS chairman and chief executive Leslie Moonves in a statement. "He broke ground in war reporting and made a name that will forever be synonymous with 60 Minutes. He was also a gentleman, a scholar, a great raconteur - all of those things and much more."
Safer, who had been in declining health and announced his retirement only last week, died at his Connecticut home, CBS said. Safer was a member of the "60 Minutes" team for 46 years, which according to CBS was "the longest run anyone ever had on primetime network television." On "60 Minutes" Safer was part of a team known for hard-hitting investigative reporting, with colleagues Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and others.
Among his most notable reports was a segment about Lenell Geter, a young black man serving life in prison for armed robbery in Texas. The report exposed hasty and sloppy work by prosecutors and led to the conviction being overturned. His other works included a 1978 report called "The Music of Auschwitz" about an inmate who played in an orchestra to avoid the Nazi gas chambers, a 1979 profile of Katharine Hepburn and a 1991 report, "The French Paradox," linking red wine consumption to lower rates of heart disease.