Ed Bradley, 1941-2006

I mourn over lost newsmen. When Charles Kurralt died, I didn't know how the world would go on without such a gentle spirit. Next to go was Jerry Turner, then Al Sanders, both from our local ABC affiliate, WJZ-TV. I had grown up with them! They were in my home more than my best friends.

Then we lost Peter Jennings. I wrote him a fan letter once, telling him that I thought someone should sell posters of him in his blue suit in the same way they sold the ones with Farrah Fawcett in her bathing suit. He was that sexy.

Now Ed Bradley, a near-weekly guest in my Sunday-night kitchen, is another of life's casualties. Bradley was feisty and hip and smart. He was just the kind of guy with whom you'd want to share your 5:00 beer and a plate of peel-and-eat shrimp.

I only heard Charlie Gibson's tribute from the other room, but it included a clip of Bradley saying something like this: "I don't think you need a lot of movement and graphics to tell a good story. You need some good storytelling." That's what's always made Sixty Minutes work for me—that and its impeccible reporting and its fascinating reporters.