Remembering NBC's Edwin Newman

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: Tonight we are forced to say goodbye to a longtime and beloved member of our NBC News family, the veteran newsman Edwin Newman . He did it right, starting in radio during World War II , then on television with NBC for more than 30 years, right up until his retirement. He wasn't known for his bombast or his volume or his opinions, but for his way with words. It made him one of the very best of all time.

Mr. EDWIN NEWMAN: My name is Ed Newman , and I'm one of NBC 's London correspondents.

WILLIAMS: He was a part of everything at NBC News for over three decades, the good and the bad.

Mr. NEWMAN: President Johnson has declared this a national day of mourning .

WILLIAMS: And when it got bad, it was good to have Edwin Newman 's calming presence on the air, as it was during the coverage of the assassinations that marked our times.

Mr. NEWMAN: The lives of all of us have today been profoundly changed.

WILLIAMS: President Kennedy , Senator Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. , and the attempt on Ronald Reagan 's life.

Mr. NEWMAN: President was shot and wounded in the left side of his chest.

WILLIAMS: He reported from all over the world , but he understood home the best. He explained who we were in numerous documentaries and political coverage. He was one of the first to serve as a convention floor correspondent, and he moderated two presidential debates.

Mr. NEWMAN: First question will go to Governor Carter.

WILLIAMS: We watched him on "Today" and " Meet the Press " and "Huntley Brinkley," the forerunner of NIGHTLY NEWS . He conducted countless interviews over the decades, including the first and only televised conversation with Japanese Emperor Hirohito .

Emperor HIROHITO:

WILLIAMS: He was a serious guy who never took himself too seriously. He had a great sense of humor, and he used it in cameo roles and as the newsman on "Letterman" when Dave was at NBC .

Mr. DAVID LETTERMAN: Here is Mr. News, Ed Newman .

Mr. DON PARDO: Ladies and gentlemen , Edwin Newman !

WILLIAMS: And there was that famous appearance as host of " Saturday Night Live " back in 1984 .

Mr. NEWMAN: Please don't talk about me when I'm gone...

WILLIAMS: Guy could carry a tune as well. And we're violating Ed 's wishes in that song by talking about him, but we're going to go on here to something very important. It was words he loved because he loved the language. He looked after it so well. He was a guardian of the English language , both written and spoken. He corrected grammar wherever he found it being misused or mistreated, in our newsroom or in public. And he wrote two best-sellers on the topic. And he showed the way for the generations that came up behind him. He was living in England when he died at