Lesley Stahl, Bob Simon comment on Richard Threlkeld
CBS correspondent Richard Threlkeld, pictured with CNN correspondent Betsy Aaron, was killed on the morning of Jan. 13, 2012, in a car accident in Amagansett. Threlkeld worked for CBS for more than 25 years. He was 74.
Newsday's obituary for Richard Threlkeld
Credit: AP, 1999
By now you've no doubt caught up with the news that Richard Threlkeld died this morning in a car crash in East Hampton. Threlkeld and his wife, Betsy Aaron, lived in East Hampton.
He was a highly regarded reporter at CBS News -- so much so that he was one of the "big gets" back in the '80s when Roone Arledge of "ABC News" went after a number of CBS reporters and anchors to build up his own staff at the network. Threlkeld also anchored a number of times -- and his skill at that job was even admired by Peter Jennings. In the '60s and early '70s, he was a member of an elite cadre of Vietnam reporters for "CBS News" and later covered the Gulf War.
Threlkeld was married to Betsy Aaron, also one of TV's finest reporters who had reported on the Middle East for many years.
And this: He would later become became a lead correspondent at "Sunday Morning," where he would write and report many of its lead stories. Here's a link to one from 1995.
Lesley Stahl, who worked with Threlkeld, just released this statement:
“Richard Threlkeld had the kind of name and kind of looks that could’ve made him a reporter in the movies, but unlike a reporter in the movies, he could write his owns scripts,” said Stahl. “In fact, he was one of our best writers and reporters, someone CBS sent to troubled spots to cover the big stories of the day. Richard was known for his integrity and his decency,” Stahl added.
And Bob Simon, another hightly esteemed war correspondent for CBS News who reported with Threlkeld from Vietnam said:
“We were together when we covered the biggest story of our lives: the fall of Saigon, April 29, 1975. We were both in one of the last helicopters to leave the American embassy. We were on the same aircraft carrier on that sad trip to the Philippines,” said Simon. “Richard was old school in the best sense. He really didn’t give a damn about being on camera. He didn’t do many stand ups. He always figured there was more interesting footage than himself.”
Here's CBS' full obit:
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