Michael Rosenbaum, CBS News producer, dies

Michael Rosenbaum, a producer with CBS News for over a quarter-century, has died, the network just announced. He was 64.

Rosenbaum was one of those increasingly rare old-school reporter types — dogged, smart, meticulous and particularly courageous, who went into some of the most dangerous places in the world for the networ. He was Bob Simon's producer, and doubtless you saw the name for many years on many of his superb "60  Minutes” pieces that originated from the Middle East. 

 Per CBS, he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor last September. 

Here's some of the release: 

“Michael was a great friend to so many of us at CBS News. He was a real newsman who was naturally curious and skeptical of almost everything. He was also fun to be around, a caring friend, and a beloved member of our family at CBS News,” said CBS News chairman and "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager, who worked with Rosenbaum for many years. “He died way too young. We will miss him and everything about him very much.”

Rosenbaum was best known for his collaborations with correspondents Bob Simon and Dan Rather on breaking stories in the Middle East while he was bureau chief in Tel Aviv from 1989 to 1995. His field producing was a critical part of the CBS News coverage of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, which won the Peabody award and two Emmy Awards.

“He was one of the very few people I've known who didn't have a single illusion about himself; not a trace of egotism or narcissism,” said Simon. “What I don't think he knew and what I hope he realized over the last six months, is how many friends he had, how many of us loved him. Michael tried to conceal his loving, compassionate nature beneath a crusty exterior. He never quite succeeded.”