’60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney dead at 92

Andy Rooney, longtime “60 Minutes” commentator known for his wry humor, died Friday in New York City. He was 92.

In a statement released by CBS, home of “60 Minutes,” it said Rooney died of in New York Hospital from complications following a minor surgery.

Rooney spent the majority of his life at CBS, beginning 60 years ago at the company, beginning behind the camera as a writer and producer for entertainment and news programming. Then in 1978 he started his term as a commentator for “60 Minutes,” the night time show known to the country by the ticking of a clock and Rooney’s humor woven into the script. But what made him a staple in television personalities was his weekly segment on “60 Minutes,” “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney.”

On Oct. 2 Rooney had announced in his 1,097th essay for “60 Minutes” he would no longer appear regularly on the night time show, CBS reported. But soon after that appearance, CBS announced Rooney had been hospitalized with “serious complications” from an unspecified operation, the New York Times reported.

"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," CBS reported. "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 started his journalistic career during World War II s a correspondent for the Stars and Stripes military newspaper, the Los Angeles Times reported. When he began writing essays for '60 Minutes' his topics touched on everything from world affairs to baseball to pop culture.

"The Romans had Cicero," said Scott Pelley, anchor of the "CBS Evening News," the New York Daily News reported.  "The English had Dickens. America had Andy. Apparently God needed a writer."

Rooney delievered one of his essays for '60 Minutes' behind his cluttered desk at CBS News, which according to CBS, he built himself. While his commentaries were often sarcastic and humorous, he won four Emmy Awards for his segments that targeted current events. One of his essays that won an Emmy offered his compromise to the grain embargo against the Soviet Union– to sell them cereal– as CBS News recalled. "Are they going to take us seriously as an enemy if they think we eat Cap'n Crunch for breakfast?" he said.

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