Veteran Broadcaster David Brinkley Dies

June 12 -- — Veteran ABCNEWS reporter David Brinkley has died.

Brinkley died Wednesday night at his home in Houston of complications from a fall. He was 82.

"For those of us who were privileged to work with him over his long and outstanding career, we know that he set a shining example for everyone in broadcast journalism," ABCNEWS President David Westin said. "ABCNEWS has a richer heritage because of his many contributions to the network."

Brinkley and his first wife, Ann, divorced in the 1960s and he married Susan Benfer in 1972. He leaves four children, including Alan, who is an American Book Award-winning historian, and Joel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

In a statement released today, President Bush described Brinkley as a broadcast journalism pioneer.

"He was respected for his integrity, admired for his candor and wit, and distinguished by an exceptional career that spanned more than a half century," Bush said.

Considered by many to be the premier broadcast journalist of his time, Brinkley covered every president, starting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, until his retirement in 1996. His career spanned more than 50 years, most of it in Washington, much of it spent hosting what became a Sunday morning staple, ABCNEWS' This Week With David Brinkley.

Brinkley's colleagues at ABCNEWS praised his distinctive style of reporting.

"He was the first person who believed you could give a little edge to your closing commentary on the broadcast, and I think we all, those of us who were viewers, we all found him refreshing," said ABCNEWS' World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings.

ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer credited Brinkley with improving both the substance and style of television news.

"He saved journalism from terminal earnestness," she said.

From Cub Reporter to Network TV Star

Brinkley got his start in journalism when he was a high school student in his native Wilmington, N.C., writing for the Wilmington Morning Star.

His father, a railroad man, died when Brinkley was 8 and his mother showed little interest in the five children she was left to raise alone, he once said. Since he was much younger than his four siblings, Brinkley took refuge in books.