Charles Bierbauer, former CNN correspondent and a past president of the White House Correspondents Association who later became dean of the University of South Carolina’s journalism program, has died. He was 83.
Bierbauer died Friday at his home in Spruce Pine, NC, where he had been living in retirement, according to university spokesman Jeff Stensland. No direct cause was given, but the family’s obituary said “his generous heart gave out after a good, long life.”
Bierbauer’s journalism career began in his native Pennsylvania, where early on he was a weekend reporter for media outlet WKAP.
After a year as a reporter for the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, Bierbauer worked for several other outlets, winning an Overseas Press Club Award in 1973 for his reporting on the Yom Kippur War.
According to his family, Bierbauer was once detained in Moscow’s Red Square while filming an anti-Soviet demonstration. While covering Muhammed Ali’s 1978 travels in the Soviet Union, Bierbauer was denounced by the Soviet press for “asking impertinent questions.”
After four years with ABC News, Bierbauer began two decades at CNN, starting just a year after the network’s inception.
Over the next 20 years, Bierbauer would cover the Pentagon, White House, the US Supreme Court and an array of political stories and presidential campaigns. He also hosted the weekly current events show “Newsmaker Saturday” for a decade and regularly traveled with presidents across the country and to dozens of foreign nations.
Afterward, Bierbauer moved to South Carolina, where he became the first dean of the state flagship university’s College of Information and Communications, a merger of the mass communications and library science programs. Launching Cocky’s Reading Express, a childhood literacy initiative, Bierbauer also led a multimillion-dollar fundraising and renovation effort that moved the school from the outdated Carolina Coliseum to a state-of-the-art building on South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe.
While in academia, Bierbauer continued his passion for broadcasting by hosting a weekly current events program and moderating scores of debates among political candidates vying for offices in the state, through a partnership with SCETV.
Jay Bender, a former attorney for the South Carolina Press Association and retired professor who served under Bierbauer, remembered him as a distinguished broadcaster and educator.
“His contributions to the USC Journalism School as dean were significant,” Bender said, specifically mentioning the project that modernized the school and moved it to its current location.
Tom Reichert, who succeeded Bierbauer as communications dean, echoed Bender’s sentiments, recalling his predecessor’s “profound impact on the program.”
“He is fondly remembered for many achievements, including fundraising and supporting students who went on to win Pulitzer Prizes,” Reichert said in a statement to the Associated Press. “He will be deeply missed.”
Bierbauer was married to Susanne Schafer, a longtime military affairs reporter for the AP. He earned degrees in journalism and Russian from Penn State University and is survived by Schafer, as well as four children, several grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
In a statement to the AP, a network spokesperson remembered Bierbauer as “a cherished member of the CNN family” and a “tireless reporter and wonderful colleague.”
“Charles inspired me and helped me throughout my assignments at the Pentagon and the White House,” Wolf Blitzer, Bierbauer’s former CNN colleague, told the AP in a statement. “He was a good friend, colleague, and mentor, and I will certainly miss him.”
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