Veteran NPR host Bob Edwards dead at 76

Bob Edwards, veteran host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and an award-winning broadcaster, has died at age 76.

His wife, NPR reporter Windsor Johnston, confirmed his death Monday in a Facebook post, writing that the longtime host died Saturday night. Edwards began his 30-year tenure at NPR as a newscaster in 1974 and later became the first anchor of the “Morning Edition” in 1979.

“The world of broadcasting has lost a behemoth. Bob was a absolute master at his skill and left an indelible mark on the field of journalism,” Johnston wrote in her post. The two were married for 12 years, she noted.

NPR CEO John Lansing wrote in a statement that Edwards served as the host of the “Morning Edition” for 24 and a half years before stepping down in 2004. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame that same year.

“Bob Edwards understood the intimate and distinctly personal connection with audiences that distinguishes audio journalism from other mediums, and for decades he was a trusted voice in the lives of millions of public radio listeners,” Lansing wrote.

“Staff at NPR and all across the Network, along with those millions of listeners, will remember Bob Edwards with gratitude,” he added.

He received numerous awards for “Morning Edition,” including the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1984. According to the Radio Hall of Fame, he also won a Peabody Award in 1999, two Gabriel Awards from the National Catholic Association of Broadcasters and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 1995.

After leaving NPR, Edwards went on to host “The Bob Edwards Show” on Sirius XM until 2014.