Morley Safer longest-serving correspondent on 60 Minutes

On a recent walk through Roselawn Avenue Cemetery, Chevra Kadisha Agudas Achim Section, in Toronto, I came across the grave of a man whose voice was once a fixture in homes across North America — the great Canadian-born journalist, Morley Safer.

Safer carved out a legendary career in broadcast journalism, becoming the longest-serving correspondent on CBS’s 60 Minutes. For 46 years, he brought the world into living rooms every Sunday night, reporting with a rare blend of skepticism, empathy, and eloquence. His stories spanned war zones, political corridors, and human-interest features, always with a keen eye for both injustice and grace.

In 1965, he delivered one of the most significant and memorable reports of the Vietnam conflict.

In a poignant turn, Safer died just one week after retiring — on May 19, 2016 — at his home in Manhattan. He was 84. In death, he returned to the city of his birth, repatriated and laid to rest in Toronto.

What struck me most was the inscription on his headstone — not a list of accolades or titles, but his own words:

“It’s a wonderful life I’ve had… being witness to the mischief men do, to the wonderful mix of foolishness and nobility, to the disasters and unholy wars and the moments of grace that we discover in the most unlikely places.”

It is a fitting epitaph for a man whose life’s work was to observe, question, and share.

1931-2016

A Toronto lane dedicated to Morley Safer near my home in Palmerston-Little Italy.