CBS celebrated his lengthy career this past Sunday with a post-60 Minutes special, titled Morley Safer: A Reporter’s Life.
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He would go on to join 60 Minutes in 1970, working as a correspondent and reporter. At 84 and dealing with health issues, Safer had cut back on work in recent years.
In addition to his Emmy and Peabody awards, Safer received two George Polk Memorial Awards; three Overseas Press Club Awards; and two Alfred I. duPont Columbia U. Awards.
Safer was born on November 8, 1931, in Toronto and eventually became a dual citizen with the U.S. He worked for some local Canadian papers after a brief stint at the University of Western Ontario, and later moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Company before taking a job with CBS in the U.S.
Safer’s reporting from Vietnam in the 1960s, which angered many, was considered groundbreaking.
2016 has seen more than its fair share of loss, with numerous icons from the world of movies, TV, music and more passing away over the past few months.
“As a journalist, he really was a legend in the sense that he was the one who – in getting at the real truth of what was going on in Vietnam – helped to bring that news story to the forefront”, said Robertson.
He became a fixture at “60 Minutes” – and part of that show’s rough-and-tumble behind-the-scenes culture. “I said, ‘Morley, you look like you’re from the future, ‘ and he said, ‘Stephen, I am the future, ‘ and got off the elevator”.
Safer told a CNN interviewer that he and prickly colleague Mike Wallace, who died in April 2012, were sometimes “like scorpions in a bottle” before their relationship mellowed.
Safer is survived by his wife, the former Jane Fearer, and his daughter Sarah.
The late Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes”, often cited a Safer story as one of the show’s greatest moments. 60 Minutes cracked the Nielsen ratings top 10 list in 1978, and it remained in the top 10 for an unprecedented 23 straight seasons after that.
The hour-long CBS tribute called Safer’s “unmatched” and that “he’s made the rest of us better journalists”.
In 1983, Safer did an investigative report on Texas prisoner Lenell Geter, who was serving a life sentence for armed robbery.
By 2006, Safer had reduced his output, accepting half-time status.
The segment prompted the US military to issue new rules of engagement and earned the wrath of members of the Lyndon Johnson administration, who called CBS News executives “unpatriotic” and accused Safer of being a communist.
His work as a war correspondent was legendary.
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Safer was equally at home reporting on social injustices, abstract art and war-time atrocities.
