Charles Bierbauer, a seasoned CNN correspondent known for his extensive coverage of the White House, Pentagon, and Supreme Court, passed away on Friday, August 29, at his residence in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. He was 83.
Bierbauer’s family announced his passing at his retirement home, stating in an obituary that “his generous heart gave out after a good, long life.” University of South Carolina spokesman Jeff Stensland noted no specific cause of death was provided.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Bierbauer joined CNN in 1981, one year after its launch. He initially worked as the network’s defense correspondent at the Pentagon, later serving as CNN’s senior White House correspondent for nine years. His tenure spanned the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Bierbauer’s assignments also included presidential campaigns from 1984 to 2000, the Supreme Court, and major international summits.
From 1991 to 1992, Bierbauer served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Throughout his career, he traveled with presidents to all 50 states and more than 30 countries. For a decade, Bierbauer also anchored CNN’s “Newsmaker Saturday,” a weekly program featuring interviews with notable figures.
Bierbauer started his journalism career in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a weekend radio reporter for WKAP and later joined The Associated Press in Pittsburgh. After a year with AP, he worked for other media outlets and was recognized early in his career with an Overseas Press Club Award in 1973 for his coverage of the Yom Kippur War.
Before joining CNN, Bierbauer spent four years with ABC News, where he served as Moscow bureau chief and correspondent starting in 1978, later becoming bureau chief in Bonn, Germany. His earlier career included roles in London, Bonn, and Vienna for Westinghouse Broadcasting. Bierbauer reported on every US-Soviet summit from 1975, starting with President Gerald Ford and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, to the 1992 meeting between Presidents George H.W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin.
Bierbauer’s family noted an incident where he was detained briefly in Moscow’s Red Square during an anti-Soviet protest. During Muhammad Ali’s 1978 visit to the Soviet Union, Bierbauer faced criticism from the Soviet press for his probing questions.
He received an Emmy Award for his reporting on the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. Bierbauer’s expertise in Eastern Europe during the Cold War made him a critical resource for covering the era’s geopolitical complexities.
In 2001, after retiring from CNN, Bierbauer transitioned to academia, becoming the first dean of the University of South Carolina’s College of Mass Communications and Information Studies in 2002. He supervised the merger of the mass communications and library science programs and led until 2017, stepping down after 15 years.
During his academic career, Bierbauer initiated Cocky’s Reading Express, a childhood literacy program, and spearheaded a multimillion-dollar fundraising and renovation effort. This project moved the journalism school from the outdated Carolina Coliseum to a modern facility on the university’s historic Horseshoe campus.
While at the university, Bierbauer continued his broadcasting work by hosting a weekly current events program and moderating several debates among political candidates vying for state offices through SCETV. Tom Reichert, who succeeded him as dean, highlighted Bierbauer’s notable fundraising efforts and student support, resulting in Pulitzer Prize winners.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, whom Bierbauer mentored, praised him as an inspirational figure whose guidance was invaluable during assignments at the Pentagon and White House. Blitzer described him as a friend, colleague, and mentor whose absence would be profoundly felt.
Jay Bender, a former attorney for the South Carolina Press Association and retired professor, remembered Bierbauer as a distinguished broadcaster and educator. Bender noted Bierbauer’s lasting influence on the USC Journalism School, particularly through the modernization efforts that led to the school’s relocation.
Bierbauer graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in Russian and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. He was honored by the university as a distinguished alumnus and alumni fellow.
He married Susanne Schafer, a longtime Associated Press military affairs reporter, in April 1983. Bierbauer is survived by Schafer, four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
