60 MINUTES COLLEAGUES PAY TRIBUTE TO ANDY ROONEY

Andy Rooney, a fixture on CBS’s 60 Minutes as its signature essayist since 1978, died in New York on Saturday just five weeks after making his final appearance on the long-running magazine show. He was 92. CBS said that Rooney died as a result of “complications following minor surgery.” It did not disclose the nature of the surgery or the complications. In his final essay, on October 2 — his 1,097th — the irascible Rooney remarked, “I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life.” Friends and colleagues marked his passing with tributes, some comparing him with Mark Twain and Will Rogers, but in an interview with the New York Times, Rooney’s 60 Minutes colleague, Morley Safer, remarked, “I think he was a kind of sane Howard Beale,” referring to the character in the movie Network. “I’m mad as hell, but I’m going to take it anyway.” And CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, who is also executive producer of 60 Minutes, told the Times that Rooney’s spot on 60 Minutes will not be occupied by anyone else. “You can’t replace Andy Rooney,” he said. “He was an icon. He was unique.”