Benjamin C. Bradlee, legendary executive editor for the Washington Post, has died at the age of 93.
Bradlee, who presided over the newsroom for 26 years beginning in 1965, died Tuesday at his home in Washington, D.C., of natural causes.
“From the moment he took over The Post newsroom in 1965, Mr. Bradlee sought to create an important newspaper that would go far beyond the traditional model of a metropolitan daily,” former Washington Post managing editor Robert G. Kaiser wrote Tuesday.
One of the most important stories covered by the Post under Bradlee was Watergate in the early 1970s, the famous political scandal that arose from the newspaper’s reporting — one that eventually lead to the only resignation of a president in United States history.
“For Benjamin Bradlee, journalism was more than a profession — it was a public good vital to our democracy. […] The standard he set — a standard for honest, objective, meticulous reporting — encouraged so many others to enter the profession,” President Obama said in a statement Tuesday after learning of Bradlee’s passing.
Last year, Obama awarded Bradlee’s work by giving him the country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
First as managing editor and then as executive editor, Bradlee doubled the Post’s circulation as well as doubling its newsroom staff. He stationed correspondents around the globe, opened bureaus around the nation and created features and sections — he was reportedly most proud of Style — eventually copied by numerous other newspapers.
During his tenure from 1965 to 1991, the Post won 17 Pulitzer Prizes.
“Ben’s influence remained very much alive at The Washington Post long after he retired, distinguishing the newspaper and our newsroom as unique in journalism,” said Leonard Downie Jr., who succeeded Bradlee as the Post’s executive editor in 1991.
“The values that Ben instilled in our newsroom — independence and fairness, aggressive reporting, compelling writing and individual initiative — will long outlive him,” Downie said.
“And it will always be a newsroom where everyone has fun, as Ben did.”
