Bob Simon, a longtime correspondent in "60 Minutes," was given a tribute on Sunday while a story on Ebola and the possibility of its new treatment was aired. The story, which was produced by Simon's daughter Tanya, was finished on the same day of his death.
Simon was killed in a Manhattan livery cab crash on Wednesday evening while he was heading south. According to the NYPD, he suffered fatal injuries after being violently thrown from the car's back seat to the front.
Fellow correspondent Steve Kroft said that Simon was both a "model and an inspiration" to his colleagues at CBS News.
"All of us lost him - his family, his colleagues here at 60 Minutes and all of you who have watched this broadcast over the years," said Kroft. "We lost his curiosity, his unparalleled writing ability, his calm bravery under fire."
The story, the last one reported by Simon, tapped into the potential cure benefits of ZMapp against the dreaded Ebola virus. The disease had already claimed over 9,000 lives in West Africa in 2014. There's also an inquiry made by Simon on why drugs such as ZMapp were not available in the U.S. when the disease went on a record outbreak in the previous year.
While reporting, Simon had commented, "It's impossible to say what role ZMapp played in Brantly's recovery because he also received an experimental blood transfusion and first-rate medical care in the U.S. Still, after his story got out there was a mad scramble for the eight antidotes that remained of what was being called a miracle drug."
Tributes came pouring in for Simon after the fatal crash. He had survived being kept in an Iraqi prison during the regime of Saddam Hussein. In the Vietnam War, he was also one of the last reporters that have left Saigon.
"Bob has thrown himself into every war zone for 50 years....and to hear he had died in a car accident in New York City was the one thing I never expected," said Kroft.
Simon is a recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. These include his fourth Peabody award and Emmy for his story on the all-black symphony in Central Africa in 2012 which is the only one of its kind in the world. His 27th Emmy was earned when he covered a story in Paraguay which talked about how the poor members of an orchestra made their instruments from trash. It is perhaps the highest number of awards held by a journalist in the field reporting category.
"Bob was a reporter's reporter," said 60 Minutes Executive Producer Jeff Fager. "He was driven by a natural curiosity that took him all over the world covering every kind of story imaginable. There is no one else like Bob Simon. All of us at CBS News and particularly at 60 Minutes will miss him very much."
