Longtime CNN Journalist Charles Bierbauer Passes Away at Age 83

USA, — Charles Bierbauer, a former CNN correspondent turned journalism academic, has died. He was 83.

Bierbauer died Friday at his home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where he had been living in retirement, university spokesman Jeff Stensland told the Associated Press. 

Bierbauer worked as a Pentagon, White House and United States Supreme Court correspondent for CNN from 1981 until his retirement in 2001, according to CNN. He also anchored CNN’s show “Newsmaker Saturday,” which featured top newsmakers on the program every week for a decade. 

He reported on five presidential campaigns and traveled with U.S. presidents across the country and world.

A CNN spokesperson said he was a “tireless reporter and wonderful colleague” and will be remembered for his “outstanding journalism and his willingness to help others.”

He’s won an Emmy for his coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park bombing, according to CNN. 

Before breaking into professional news, Bierbauer attended and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in the 60s. He earned his undergraduate degree in Russian and eventually earned his graduate degree in journalism.  

He traveled the world and reported for ABC News as their Moscow bureau chief and their bureau chief while in Germany from 1978 until 1981, until he went to CNN — just a year after the network’s inception. He also previously worked in London and Vienna for another broadcast company. 

“Charles inspired me and helped me throughout my assignments at the Pentagon and the White House,” said longtime CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer in a statement. “He was a good friend, colleague, and mentor, and I will certainly miss him.”

After retiring from news, Bierbauer became University of South Carolina’s first dean of the newly merged College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, which is now called the College of Information and Communications, from 2002 until 2018. He also served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association from 1991 to 1992. 

Journalists and former students alike took to social media to express their sympathies for the loss. 

“RIP to Charles Bierbauer, a terrific mentor, friend, dean and human. I can’t overstate his impact on my life as a student and the lives of countless others,” wrote Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey. “He was a smart, kind and incredibly insightful man I will miss very much.”

Bierbauer is survived by his wife, a former Associated Press journalist, Susanne Schafer, according to CNN.