Harry Reasoner
Harry Reasoner (April 17, 1923 – August 6, 1991) was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News, known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator and as one of the original hosts of the news magazine 60 Minutes (1968–1970, 1978–1991).
Harry Reasoner
April 17, 1923
August 6, 1991 (aged 68)
Journalist
1946–1991
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Over the course of his career, Reasoner won three Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award in 1967.
Early life[edit]
Reasoner was born on First Street North in Dakota City, Iowa; he and his older sister, Esther, were the children of Eunice (Nicholl) and Harry Ray Reasoner, who married in 1911.[1] Harry Reasoner was taught to read by his parents before entering school, gaining a broad vocabulary from his mother.[2]
Reasoner attended West High School in Minneapolis, where he developed an interest in journalism. He authored a story titled "The Wench of the Week," which garnered the attention of the principal, who expelled Reasoner, but later let him return following a plea from a fellow student. Reasoner graduated in January 1940, having missed the 1939 class graduation ceremony. He studied journalism at Stanford University and the University of Minnesota, receiving a journalism degree from the latter's School of Journalism in 1989 at the age of 66.[3][4] Reasoner served in the Army during World War II and after the war, he resumed his journalism career with The Minneapolis Times. His novel Tell Me About Women, about a fading marriage, was written partly during his war service and was first published in 1946.
Personal life[edit]
Reasoner was married twice, first to Kathleen Carroll Reasoner for 35 years until her death in 1986, and then to insurance executive Lois Harriett Weber in 1988. He had seven children by his first marriage: Harry Stuart, Ann, Elizabeth, Jane, Mary Ray, Ellen, and Jonathan. He had six grandchildren: Leslie, Ryan, Samantha, Christian, Ian, and John. Harry Reasoner had two operations for lung cancer, in 1987 and 1989.[11]
Death[edit]
Reasoner died within three months of his retirement in 1991 from a blood clot in the brain, resulting from a fall at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He is interred at Union Cemetery in Humboldt, Iowa.