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If you're of a certain age, you'll remember Sunday nights as the disappointing crescendo of the weekend, made only slightly tolerable by the late football game segueing into 60 Minutes. And among that program's roster of luminaries, no one exuded more cool, joy, and intensity than Ed Bradley, who passed yesterday. Younger readers probably know him only as the old guy with the earring, but Bradley, who was a sprightly (for that program) 65, was indeed a pioneer, one of the first African-American broadcasters on network television. The papers are suitably respectful, although they seem a little caught off guard. The Times relies on extensive quotes from Bradley pal Jimmy Buffett; the Post has a Linda Stasi rush job, and the News offers up a fairly decent explanation of his appeal. There's a nice collection of clips over at Poynter. Fishbowl NY stirs up a bit of controversy, as "white semi-professional journalist" Dylan Stableford labels Bradley a "pimp" for dressing like everyone else did in the seventies. We'll give the last word to Gawker commenter Bob Loblaw, who expresses a sentiment fairly close to our own: "I've gotten good at pretending not to notice celebrities, but the night I waited for an elevator next to Ed Bradley, I was like a schoolgirl. The guy was a legend."

Rest in peace, Ed.