Veteran television and radio journalist Charles Osgood, who long anchored “CBS Sunday Morning” and the radio program “The Osgood File,” died Tuesday, family members told CBS News. He was 91.
Osgood’s family said he died of dementia at his home in New Jersey, according to CBS.
“Charlie absolutely loved being part of the ‘Sunday Morning’ community. We’ll miss him terribly, but there is comfort in knowing his life was charmed, in large part thanks to you,” family members said in a statement shared with the news network. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for welcoming him into your homes on Sundays to share stories, and to highlight the better parts of humanity. He’ll see you on the radio.”
From 1994 until his retirement in 2016, Osgood anchored “CBS Sunday Mornings,” winning three Daytime Emmy awards for outstanding morning program. At the time of his retirement, a then-84-year-old Osgood said he continued working because “it’s been such a joy doing it!” according to CBS News.
“Who wouldn’t want to be the one who gets to introduce these terrific storytellers and the producers and writers and others who put this wonderful show together?” he said.
In 2017, he was presented with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ News & Documentary Emmy Award for lifetime achievement. At the time, then-NATAS president and CEO Bob Mauro remembered having crossed paths with Osgood before.
“He had the understated ease of a Southern gentleman even though he came from New York and possessed perhaps one of the greatest voices to have ever graced network television,” Mauro said in a statement. “Osgood’s character put you at ease, while his wit and humanity drew you in whether reflecting on stories large or small.”
Osgood continued to work for radio stations after leaving TV, where his sign-off was “See you on the radio,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
“Television is wonderful and I don’t mean to take anything from it, but the fact is that a TV picture is very literally ‘what you see is what you get,’” he said in 1991, according to the newspaper. “You bring your own experience and emotions to radio that you don’t to television. I do think that radio is more visual. It’s a paradox, but it’s true.”
During the peak of his radio career, Osgood was reaching more than 11 million listeners each week, the Times reported.
Born in New York City on Jan. 8, 1933, Osgood joined CBS News in September 1971 after four years with WCBS News Radio 88 in New York and previous stints with ABC News, WHCT and WGMS, according to the Radio Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990.
Osgood was also a writer, with six published books.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Jean Crafton; five children, a sister and a brother, according to CBS News.