Ben Bradlee, The Washington Post editor who presided over the paper during the Watergate scandal, died Tuesday of natural causes in Washington, D.C., according to the Post. He was 93.
Bradlee took over the newsroom in 1965 and remained there for 26 years. During his tenure, the paper won 17 Pulitzer Prizes including one for public service for the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein articles that led to President Nixon’s resignation.
“Ben Bradlee was the best American newspaper editor of his time and had the greatest impact on his newspaper of any modern editor,” Donald E. Graham, the Post’s publisher, said in a statement.
Last year, President Obama honored Bradlee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. He was married three times and had four children.
