Benjamin C. Bradlee, who served as the executive editor of the Washington Post from 1968-1991, has died, the publication announced on Tuesday. He was 93.
He died Tuesday in his Washington home of natural causes. Bradlee has suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the past few years.
The editor was immortalized in “All the President’s Men,” as Jason Robards won a Supporting Actor Oscar for portraying him in the 1976 film.
Bradlee served as executive editor of the Post during the Watergate years — defying the Nixon administration by releasing the Pentagon Papers — and led the paper’s thorough coverage of the scandal leading to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974. The Post called Bradlee’s decision to run the Papers his most important decision.
President Obama presented Bradlee with the Medal of Freedom last year. The newspaper also received 17 Pulitzer Prizes under his tenure.
“All the President’s Men” chronicled the scandal and the paper’s involvement. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford also starred as reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively.
The acclaimed film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The Boston native graduated from Harvard and served in the U.S. Navy, in the South Pacific. He worked for Newsweek, reporting first in post-war Paris and then in Washington D.C.
In 1965, he was named managing editor of The Post, and was upped to executive editor in 1968. He held the position until his retirement in 1991.