Thaindian News

Don Hewitt, the former executive producer and the reckoning force behind the making of the immensely popular and high rated series called “60 Minutes” on CBS, has passed away on Wednesday at his house in Bridgehampton, New York. He was 86 years old.

The cause of his death is said to have been cancer, according to his wife, Marilyn Berger. Hewitt had revealed in an interview that was held on the 18th of March, that doctors had come upon a cancerous tumor that was supposedly growing on his pancreas. He had also highlighted the fact that he was being admitted to the Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center for further treatment.

Hewitt had been solely responsible for changing the face of Broadcast journalism when he created the “60 Minutes” series, a television show that seemingly changed the future for such other enterprises and brought about a fusion of journalism and show biz. “60 Minutes” paved the path that was treaded by many others frequently in the near future, after its launch.

He had presided over the program for a span of nearly four decades, a time during which “60 Minutes” gained immense popularity and was copy- made in to various versions by many networks. Since then, it has become a timeless venture, one of its kind, a pioneer in its respective field. As has been said by Victor Neufeld, a senior producer with “20/ 20″, “‘60 Minutes’ was the model and the framework of everything that followed.”

Hewitt was with “60 Minutes” from 1968 to 2004, when he bade adieu to his beloved creation, under internal pressure.