Ed Bradley, the 60 Minutes news anchor with the earring and the cool demeanor, has died of leukemia at the age of 65:

The celebrated “60 Minutes” newsman, who died yesterday of leukemia at 65, was certainly learned, absolutely a globe-trotter, and highly honored. But it was his cool that drew bearhugs from men and cheek-to-cheek kisses from women all over the world…

He often turned his interviews into gabfests, into something akin to a kitchen chat at Thanksgiving. (They took on far more intensity when he was interviewing murderers or bombers.) And there were those across black America who wondered if as many black legends — Lena Horne, Muhammad Ali — would have been profiled were it not for his presence.

“Ed was as comfortable talking to Lena Horne as standing out on the White House lawn,” says Thornton. “What he brought to ’60 Minutes’ was not only the diversity of his person — his hipness, his music — but he extended that to the stories he covered. Thereby introducing America to those things.”

RIP Ed Bradley, America loved you and you will be sorely missed.