Bob Edwards Dies: NPR’s Longtime ‘Morning Edition’ Host Was 76

Veteran broadcaster Bob Edwards, best known for his long-tenured career with National Public Radio (NPR), where he anchored Morning Edition for almost 25 years, has died. He was 76.

NPR CEO John Lansing confirmed the passing on Monday, noting Edwards died “peacefully” on Saturday night (February 10) with his daughters and wife, NPR anchor Windsor Johnston, at his side.

“He smiled as we played the well wishes, loving memories and messages of healing that you all so kindly took the time to record for him,” Johnston wrote in a statement, per NBC News. “A tear slid down his face as he listened to those familiar voices under the bed of the old ‘Morning Edition’ theme.”

According to The Washington Post, Edwards passed away at a rehabilitation center in Arlington, Virginia, of metastatic bladder cancer and a heart ailment.

“We are saddened to hear that Bob Edwards has passed away,” Lansing said in a statement. “Bob Edwards understood the intimate and distinctly personal connection with audiences that distinguishes audio journalism from other mediums, and for decades, he was a trusted voice in the lives of millions of public radio listeners.”

Born on May 16, 1947, in Louisville, KY, Edwards started his radio career in 1968 at a small station in New Albany, Indiana, located across the Ohio River from Louisville. He later served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, where he produced and anchored TV and radio news programs for the American Forces Korea Network from Seoul.

Edwards joined NPR in 1974 as a newscaster before going on to co-host the flagship news program All Things Considered. Morning Edition launched in 1979, and Edwards anchored the program from the very beginning, building it into one of the network’s most popular shows.

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For his work on Morning Edition, Edwards won a Peabody Award, two Gabriel Awards from the National Catholic Association of Broadcasters, and the Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia University Award. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.

Edwards was removed as host of Morning Edition in 2004, a move which was said to be done to refresh NPR. It was said the long-time anchor would become a senior correspondent with his reports heard on various broadcasts.

However, Edwards chose instead to leave NPR and joined Sirius Satellite Radio, where he hosted The Bob Edwards Show until 2014. He later went on to host the Take on Today podcast by AARP.

He is survived by his wife, Johnston, his two daughters from his second marriage, Eleanor Edwards and Susannah Edwards, and a brother.