Mike Wallace, a correspondent for CBS' 60 Minutes for more than four decades, has died. He was 93 years.
Wallace retired from the program in 2006, taking with him his reputation as one of the toughest interviewers in the news business.
"To go around the world, to talk to almost anybody you want to talk to, to have enough time on the air, so that you could really tell a full story, what a voyage of discovery it was," Wallace said when he retired.
During his career, Wallace interviewed seven US presidents, celebrities and infamous figures including Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Malcolm X, Eleanor Roosevelt, Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He continued to do special reports for the news program until January 2008. His last piece was an interview with famed baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, who has been accused of using steroids.
Wallace, who underwent triple bypass surgery in 2008, passed away in New Canaan, Connecticut with his family by his side.
"He took to heart the old reporter's pledge to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," says 60 Minutes colleague Morely Safer. "He characterized himself as 'nosy and insistent.'"
"So insistent, there were very few 20th century icons who didn't submit to a Mike Wallace interview. He lectured Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, on corruption. He lectured Yassir Arafat on violence. More than anyone he was responsible for the continuing success of '60 Minutes.'"
Safer told viewers of Mike Wallace's death on last night's episode of the show and announced an extended tribute next week.
Watch a look back at some of Mike Wallace's tough interviews:
Mike Wallace, a correspondent for CBS' 60 Minutes for more than four decades, has died. He was 93 years.
