"60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney dead at 92

Andy Rooney, the 60 Minutes commentator known to generations for his wry, humorous and contentious television essays -- a unique genre he is credited with inventing -- died Friday night in a hospital in New York City of complications following minor surgery. He was 92, and had homes in New York City, Rensselaerville, New York and Rowayton, Connecticut.

"It's a sad day at 60 Minutes and for everybody here at CBS News," said Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of 60 Minutes. "It's hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much."

Rooney had announced October 2 in his 1,097th essay for 60 Minutes that he would no longer appear regularly.

Rooney wrote for television since its birth, spending more than 60 years at CBS, 30 of them behind the camera as a writer and producer, first for entertainment and then news programming, before becoming a television personality -- a role he said he was never comfortable in. He preferred to be known as a writer, and was the author of best-selling books and a national newspaper column, in addition to his 60 Minutes essays.

But it is his television role as the inquisitive and cranky commentator on 60 Minutes that made him a cultural icon. For over 30 years, Rooney had the last word on the most watched television program in history. Ratings for the broadcast rose steadily over its time period, peaking at a few minutes before the end of the hour, precisely when he delivered his essays -- which could generate thousands of response letters.





[Via CBS News -- www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/rooney/main3419.shtml]