Don Hewitt

Donald Shepard "Don" Hewitt ( born December 14, 1922 in New York City; † August 19, 2009 in Bridgehampton, Suffolk County, New York ) was an American journalist, film director and television producer. He was chief and producer of the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which broadcast the longest news broadcast on U.S. television.

Curriculum vitae

Don Hewitt attended the New Rochelle High School in New York City, where he already wrote for the school newspaper. After graduating, he enrolled at New York University. He began his journalistic career in 1942 at the Herald Tribune. In 1948 he moved to CBS News, where he worked as a producer and director of the nightly news broadcast fourteen years. He was the first director of the program See It Now, which was co-produced by the moderators Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. In 1960, Hewitt was the director of the TV duel between presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Later, he was executive producer of the evening news CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite was their spokesman. In 1968 he started the news program 60 Minutes, which has since won eight Emmys.

In 2004, at the age of 81 years, Hewitt retired as Executive Producer. He has repeatedly won an Emmy Award. In 2008 he received the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Washington State University for his journalistic life's work. He died in 2009 at his home in Bridgehampton, New York.