{alltv} Longtime CBS News Correspondent Harold Dow Dies at 62

Saturday, August 21, 2010

{alltv} Longtime CBS News Correspondent Harold Dow Dies at 62

Longtime CBS News correspondent Harold Dow died suddenly Saturday morning, according to the network's website. He was 62.

The five-time Emmy Award winner was best known for his work on 48 Hours, to which he contributed since the program's launch in January 1988. He was also a contributor to the critically acclaimed 1986 documentary, 48 Hours on Crack Street, which led to the creation of the weekly news magazine.

"CBS News is deeply saddened by this sudden loss," CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus said in a statement. "The CBS News family has lost one of its oldest and most talented members, whose absence will be felt by many and whose on-air presence and reporting skills touched nearly all of our broadcasts. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Kathy and their children Joelle, Danica and David."

Dow covered many of the most important stories of his time, including 9/11, where he barely escaped one of the falling Twin Towers. He also covered the return of prisoners of war from Vietnam, the movement of American troops into Bosnia, the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster, and the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, who he interviewed exclusively in 1976. He also conducted the first network TV interview with O. J. Simpson after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

In addition to his five Emmys, Dow was honored with a Peabody Award for his 48 Hours report on runaways and a Robert F. Kennedy Award for a report on public housing. He was also recently recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists for his report about civil rights activist Medgar Evers, which was featured in a CBS News special about the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Prior to beginning his work for CBS News in 1972, Dow was an anchor at Theta Cable TV in Santa Monica, Calif. He was also the first African American television reporter in Omaha, Neb., where he served as co-anchor and talk-show host for KETV Omaha.

Dow's cause of death was not immediately released.