Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who became a guiding light to millions of viewers with his tireless coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks, has died at the age of 76.
Brown died on Sunday (December 29), his wife confirmed. No immediate cause of death was given.
The veteran broadcaster became best known for breaking the news on the 2001 atrocity, which happened to fall on his first day with the network.
The fateful day marked Brown’s first time on air with CNN. He wasn’t even scheduled to appear that morning, but he jumped on the news reporting from the roof of the network’s Manhattan office. Brown covered the attacks live for 17 hours.
“When he was live on air, he just stopped and looked at it. And paused. And he shared this moment that everybody was thinking, ‘Good Lord. There are no words,’” Brown’s former colleague John Vause remembered, per CNN.
Brown went on to win the Edward R. Murrow Award for his 9/11 coverage.
During a 2009 appearance on NPR’s All Things Considered radio show, Brown reflected on his reporting of the terror attacks, saying: “It captures what television ought to capture — which is the totality of a story — and that one did it all.
“The strength of the country, the beauty of the day, and the horror of the moment,” he said.
Before joining CNN, Brown spent years working in local journalism in Seattle before he was hired as the founding journalist for ABC’s World News Now. He also worked as a reporter for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and Nightline, as well as an anchor for World News Tonight Saturday and Good Morning America Sunday.
Several of Brown’s ex-colleagues have since paid tribute, with one of his former producers, Molly Levinson, remembering him as “a quintessential newsman to his core.”
“So many people around the world remember his unflinching coverage on September 11, 2001, and in many ways the events that followed,” Levinson told ABC News in a statement.
“On air he gave simple, understandable — even elegant — analysis and reporting. Behind the scenes as a boss and a mentor, he accepted nothing less than excellence, and he gave nothing less than endless loyalty in return. There’s no one like him and he will be deeply missed.”
While with CNN, Brown also notably covered the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks, the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and the devasting 2004 tsunami and earthquake that hit Indonesia, killing more than 170,000.
