Ed Bradley

Ed Bradley (born June 22, 1941, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Nov. 9, 2006, New York, N.Y.) was an American broadcast journalist, known especially for his 25-year association with the televised newsmagazine 60 Minutes.

As a student at Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania), Bradley worked his way into broadcasting by volunteering at Philadelphia radio station WDAS-FM. After graduating with a degree in education (B.S., 1964), Bradley became an elementary schoolteacher but continued to work evenings in radio jobs that ranged from disc jockey to reporter. The station finally began paying Bradley a small hourly wage after he spent two days covering a Philadelphia race riot; however, he did not leave his teaching job until 1967, when he joined WCBS radio in New York City as a reporter.

Bradley held many other positions with CBS. He worked briefly in Paris in 1971, was stationed in Saigon, Vietnam, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in the early 1970s, and was injured by shrapnel while reporting in Cambodia. He moved to Washington, D.C., and began covering presidential campaigns in 1976, eventually becoming a White House correspondent. His feature stories, however, drew on topics from around the world. In 1980 he won awards for two CBS Special Reports: The Boat People (1979), exploring the plight of Southeast Asian refugees, and Blacks in America: With All Deliberate Speed? (1979), his in-depth examination of African American progress since the Brown v. Board of Education decision. He joined the staff of the long-running 60 Minutes in 1981. Bradley received numerous honours during his career, including 4 George Foster Peabody Awards and 19 Emmys.