Harold Dow, 62, CBS News reporter

Harold Dow, one of the founding correspondents of CBS' long-running "48 Hours" and a veteran CBS News reporter, died unexpectedly yesterday. CBS provided no details about cause of death, while Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48," said last night she had not yet learned cause of death. Dow was 62.

"CBS News is deeply saddened by this sudden loss," said Sean McManus, president, CBS News and Sports. "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, who joined CBS in 1972, was not just a network stalwart but one of the most visible African-American reporters on television of the last quarter century. Along with Dan Rather, he helped launched "48 Hours" as a 1986 special called "48 Hours on Crack Street" - it was so successful that Rather and the news division decided to spin it off into a regular series that would become one of the most durable news franchises on TV.

Except for a brief foray to a "48" spinoff, "Street Stories," Dow was with the show week in and week out, becoming a signature reporter for the news magazine and the network.

"I don't have any details yet" about his death, Zirinsky said last night. "He was at work yesterday. He called me every day between 8 and 8:30 a.m. to check in. This guy loved life and he loved being a journalist."

Dow was a reporter for "Street Stories" (1992-93), as well as "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Sunday Morning," and CBS News' legal series, "Verdict." He served as co-anchor on "CBS News Nightwatch" (1982-83), where he also worked as a correspondent (1977-82) and was a reporter (1973-77) at the CBS News Los Angeles bureau.

A George Foster Peabody Award-winner for a "48 Hours" report on runaways, Dow's work covered a broad spectrum - from the kidnapping of Patty Hearst to the O.J. Simpson murder trial. He was one of CBS' key reporters on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988.

A Hackensack, N.J., native, he said in a recent interview with the Bergen Record, he said, "I've traveled all over the world. . . . There's just moments, places I've been that I think truly changed my life."