![]() Rooney's wife of 62 years, Marguerite, known as "Margie," died in 2004 at age 84 due to heart failure. "He's very determined that he's going to continue. He doesn't know what he would do with himself," said Stacy Deibler, who has edited Rooney's column for Tribune Media Services for more than 15 years. He is also a best-selling author of 15 books, including a memoir about the war and collections of his columns. After working as a correspondent for the Army newspaper " Stars and Stripes" during World War II, he started at CBS in 1949 with the show " Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." He has worked for CBS as a correspondent, writer and producer and has won best script of the year honors a record six times by the Writers Guild. Rooney is one of the most decorated and durable writers of all time in radio and TV. "There's always a lot of competition on the commentary page and we want to give readers a wide range of material." "We're using the column on a more occasional basis, depending on the subject," said Crupi, who did not publish Rooney's column this Saturday - a list of things that make him mad - because she deemed it repetitive. ![]() Joann Crupi, opinion pages editor of the Times Union, has decided not to run some of his columns in recent months for a variety of reasons. and his popularity with clients has remained consistent, she said. He is still published in several metro dailies across the U.S. Guszynski could not say how many newspapers carry Rooney's column today, but it which was more than 200 at its peak. "To my knowledge, he's meeting his deadlines." "It's business as usual with Andy," she said. There has been no discussion of retirement with Rooney, said Jan Guszynski, director of marketing for Tribune Media Services. ![]() It has been published nearly that long locally, first in the Knickerbocker News and then in the Times Union after Hearst's two Albany dailies merged in 1988. Rooney also continues to write a weekly newspaper column, which has been syndicated by Tribune Media Services since 1979. "But eventually, it might be out of his hands." "I believe he should be allowed to do what he wants to do until he can't do it anymore," she said. She said that she does not sense there is any pressure yet from CBS executives to ease Rooney to the sidelines. ![]() "We did a piece this week and hopefully it will be on next week, but we don't know," Bieber said. "People call and ask why he's not on every week and I say, 'He's 92.' I don't know of anyone else who's doing what he's doing at 92."īieber said they continue to tape a Rooney commentary each week, without assurances that it will make it on the air. "It's realistic to say he's slowing down," Bieber said. He's been doing those signature commentaries since 1978 and has won three Emmys for them.īut Rooney's appearance on the TV newsmagazine has been erratic of late due to illness, being bumped by major news stories and issues arising from the sensitive topic he doesn't want to discuss. He's something of a national landmark to viewers of a certain age with his popular two-minute segments of observations ranging from whimsical to cranky on life's minor annoyances and cosmic absurdities at the end of "60 Minutes" each Sunday night. And that side is also a pain in the ass."ĬBS has fielded calls from concerned fans in recent months, when Rooney was missing in action. Longevity runs in his side of the family. ![]() "He doesn't plan to stop," said his son Brian. "I wish you wouldn't mention it," he said in response to a question about having turned 92 in January. He stopped driving into the city from his home in Connecticut and now takes a cab from a Manhattan apartment, a begrudging concession to being a nonagenarian. He still goes to the office each weekday - and Saturdays, too, as has long been his habit. Rooney, an Albany native and alumnus of Albany Academy, spoke by phone Friday from his office at CBS News. "Retirement is a dirty word to him," said Susie Bieber, his longtime producer at "60 Minutes." I don't need the money, but I love the work." "No, I'm not," he said, when asked if he was retiring. ![]()
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