Ed Bradley, CBS News

Ed Bradley passed away today. We will miss him.

If you need to ask, "Ed Who?" you must be either very, very young or have never owned a television or radio. Ed Bradley was (and will remain) a pillar of American journalism -- or for that matter of journalists everywhere.

If you watched 60 Minutes, you were rewarded everytime Ed Bradley reported. No matter who he interviewed, no matter what the topic, no matter where the story took him, Ed Bradley delivered quality reporting. Despite his nickname of "Easy Ed," he could be tough, and didn't cotton to being pushed around. Those of us who remember him on the floor of the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1972, remember him bellowing for cops and security guards to "get your @#$%@#$@#$@ hands off of me," as Mayor Richard Daley's (father, not the son) stormtroopers tried to manhandle Bradley out of the building (score: Bradley 1, cops 0). All caught on live TV.

We also remember Ed reporting from Vietnam, in particular a shot of him hunkered down in the jungle as a helicopter was lifting off behind him. And we remember him bringing us intriguing profiles of musicians and actors and sports legends; not the typical celebrity fluff of say, a Barbara Walters, but personal, intimate visits that didn't need to resort to gimmicky questions ("If you could be a tree..."), but painted beautiful portraits and left us feeling that we knew both Ed and his subject better.

And for those of us with brown faces and kinky hair, Ed was a symbol of what we could achieve. He was a hero. He was on CBS, man. CBS network! And if Ed could do it, so could we. We trusted Walter Cronkite, but Ed was one of us. He wore a 'fro when it was in, sported an earring, and facial hair. He could be street-wise and hip, or genteel and elegant. And it never looked contrived or phony. It was just Ed. I know I wanted Ed Bradley to get the anchor chair when Walter Cronkite retired, because he certainly proved he was more than capable. And I never missed an Ed Bradley segment on 60 Minutes. They were -- he was -- the best.

Ed Bradley was a consummate journalist. There will be other good journalists. But there will never be another Ed Bradley.