David Jackson, longtime CBS correspondent, dies at 70
Longtime CBS Radio News correspondent David Jackson died of cancer Thursday at his home in Kula, Hawaii. He was 70.
Jackson reported on many of the important events marked on the timeline of modern history. He was on the ground in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square student protests. He was in Germany for the return of the American hostages from Iran. He was there when a gunman shot Pope John Paul II.
Jackson joined CBS News as a radio newswriter in 1972, becoming a reporter and special correspondent in 1976 and a full correspondent in 1981. Before joining CBS News, he was a radio and TV correspondent with the Marines and served one tour of duty in Vietnam from March 1968 to April 1969.
Covering major events for CBS News ran in his family. His father, Allan Jackson, began his career in World War II and anchored CBS News coverage of the D-Day invasion in 1944. Allan Jackson was also one of the first national radio broadcasters to announce the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
To quote from the letter announcing David Jackson's departure from CBS in 1999, "It's not enough to just let David say goodnight. He helped CBS News deliver the best broadcast journalism in the world."
Jackson is survived by his wife, Sally.