Category Archives: Mike Wallace

Colleagues and friends are remembering Mike Wallace at his death at 93. Some talked about his middle age. On ABC’s website, Morley Safer was quoted as once saying:

“‘Well, he’s remarkable. I mean he still has the energy of a man half his age, and the man half his age is already middle age.’

ABC ‘World News’ anchor Diane Sawyer also remembered Wallace’s incredible energy and joyous spirit.

‘Mike’s energy and nerve paced everyone at ’60 Minutes.’ His was the defining spirit of the show,’ she said. ‘He bounded through the halls with joy at the prospect of the new, the true, the unexpected.’ “

The New York Times blog, mediadecoder, had the most telling quote from his son Chris Wallace, given a few years ago:

“In a recent interview, Mr. Wallace’s son Chris, who is the anchor of ‘Fox News Sunday’ on Fox, said that his father ‘is 93 and showing it for the first time.’

‘He’s in a facility in Connecticut. Physically, he’s okay. Mentally, he’s not,’ Chris Wallace said. ‘He still recognizes me and knows who I am, but he’s uneven. The interesting thing is, he never mentions ’60 Minutes.’ It’s as if it didn’t exist. It’s as if that part of his memory is completely gone. The only thing he really talks about is family — me, my kids, my grandkids, his great-grandchildren. There’s a lesson there. This is a man who had a fabulous career and for whom work always came first. Now he can’t even remember it.’”