Barbara Walters, the broadcast journalist whose impressive career spanned 60 years, has died, according to ABC News. She was 93 years old.
Bob Iger— the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, Walter’s longtime employer — said she died at her home in New York on December 30.
“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not only for women in journalism but for journalism itself,” Iger tweeted. “She was a unique reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state and regime leaders to the biggest celebrities and sports icons.”
He added, “I’ve had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I’ve been able to call her a dear friend.”
Although her literary career, which included writing for Redbook Magazine, began as early as the 1950s, Walter’s first television appearance was as the “Today Girl” on The Today Show, where she rose to the rank of reporter in just a year. As co-host of the morning program, Walters became the first woman to hold that particular title for an American news program in 1974.
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