Safer, who died a week after his retirement from the CBS newsmagazine was announced, filed his last report, his 919th, in March and reportedly had been ill.
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Safer announced last week he was ending his 46-year run as a 60 Minutes correspondent.
As the 1970s began, Safer became part of an American journalism institution by joining the 60 Minutes team – a team that also included at various times such esteemed journalists and Harry Reasoner, Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Don Hewitt, Andy Rooney and Steve Kroft.
60 Minutes news legend Morley Safer died on Thursday May 19 at 84, just days after retiring.
The Toronto-born newsman began his career working for several organisations in Canada and England, including the London bureaus of Reuters, Canadian Broadcasting Company and CBS News.
Safer first gained widespread renown in 1965, when he was the CBS bureau chief in Saigon, covering the Vietnam War.
Safer was equally at home reporting on social injustices, abstract art and war-time atrocities.
“60 Minutes” executive producer Jeff Fager issued a statement: “Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives”.
Mr. Safer won many awards, including Emmys, Peabodys, and the George Polk Award for career achievement.
Safer is survived by his wife, the former Jane Fearer, and his daughter Sarah Safer. “It just creates more heat than light so you junk it”, explained Safer.
Not only was 60 Minutes a ratings hit, but it provided a tutorial about investigative journalism.
The news report angered viewers and even incited the ire of then-President Lyndon Johnson, who reportedly called CBS President Frank Stanton the day after the report aired, saying “your boys shat on the American flag yesterday”.
Safer wrote a book, Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam, in 1990.
Safer, who had been a correspondent on 60 Minutes for all but two of the show’s 48 seasons, retired from his job last week. He developed an interest in painting watercolors as a way to unwind on the road, and “60 Minutes” always kept him on the road.
When he wasn’t in New York City or traveling the globe during his more than five decades of reporting for CBS News, the small town of Chester was Morley Safer’s home.
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By 2006, Safer had reduced his output, accepting half-time status. Following his retirement, his life and legacy were honored in a television special that aired Sunday, Morley Safer: A Reporter’s Life.
