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Well-known journalist and CBS News correspondent Bill Plante passed away on September 28 at the age of 84 and news of his death was confirmed by his family.
In a tribute to Plante, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl said:
“He was brilliant, as a reporter and as a human being. There wasn’t anything Bill didn’t excel at in our profession: he was a gifted writer, a first-class deadline maker and a breaker of major stories. He’ll be remembered for his reports from the White House lawn, his booming voice that presidents always answered and his kind heart.”
How did Bill Plante die?
According to his family, Bill Plante died from a respiratory failure, shocking the journalist community. No information available on whether Plante was hospitalized or at home at the time of his death.
Detailed information is expected to be disclosed in the coming days.
Bill Plante was famous as CBS' White House correspondent
Bill Plante was born on January 14, 1938, to parents Regis and Jane. While Regis was a field engineer for a heating company, Jane was a school administrator.
The journalist enrolled at Loyola Academy and graduated in 1955 and in 1956, he joined a music radio station in Evanston, Illinois, soon after. Bill joined Loyola University Chicago and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1959.
He quit Chicago-Kent College of Law when he got a job as an assistant news director on WISN-TV. He worked for four years at the station and received a journalism fellowship from CBS to study political science at Columbia University.
Plante joined CBS News as a reporter and assignment editor in June 1964 and went to South Vietnam to report on the Vietnam War. He also covered the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon, which earned his team the Best Radio Spot News Reporting from Abroad Award from the Overseas Press Club.
He went to Selma, Alabama in March 1965 and returned to report on the Selma to Montgomery marches along with interviewing Martin Luther King Jr. Plante was promoted as a correspondent and joined the network’s Chicago bureau, working for 10 years.
He reported on various events, including the protests at Ohio University, the United Auto Workers strike, and more. He was the Senior White House Correspondent for CBS News for as many 35 years - during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Bill also reported for CBS This Morning along with CBS Evening News and was the anchor of CBS Sunday Night News from 1998 to 1995.
Plante, who worked with CBS News for over 50 years, announced his retirement in November 2016.
Netizens pay tribute on Twitter
Bill Plante gained recognition for reporting on some of the most famous and controversial events. Twitter was flooded with tributes when people heard about his demise.
His survivors include his second wife Robin Smith, brothers Richard, Jim, and John, sons Michael, Dan, Christopher, Brian, and David, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
