MARVIN KALB

CBS News is mourning the loss of William Small after his death Sunday following a brief illness unrelated to coronavirus. "Bill Small was a hero to journalism," said CBS News president Susan Zirinsky in a statement Sunday. "He hired me as a 20 year-old college student to work the weekend desk in the Washington Bureau two weeks after the Watergate break-in. His daughter, Tamar Small, reminded me tonight that Bill always said, 'The Washington Bureau and CBS News Division is an organization that remains the pinnacle of journalistic integrity.' Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award Winner Bill Small, former CBS News Washington Bureau Chief, and former NBC News president seen at the 35th annual News and Documentary Emmys Awards in 2014.

Small, who led CBS News' Washington coverage during the civil rights movement, Vietnam War and Watergate and was later president of NBC News and United Press International, died Sunday, CBS News said. Impressed by Small's work in Louisville, CBS executives hired him in 1962 to be assistant news director of the network's Washington bureau. Small didn't leave the bureau for four days, from the shooting to the burial, he told The Associated Press in 2013. Small defected to NBC in 1979, becoming president of the network's news division and hiring away several CBS reporters, including Mudd and Marvin Kalb. In 2014, the organization honored Small with its lifetime achievement award.