His First CNN Appearance Was on 9/11

Veteran ABC News reporter Aaron Brown joined CNN in 2001—and his very first appearance was on the morning of Sept. 11. "Good Lord, there are no words," Brown told viewers as the South Tower of the World Trade Center came down in the terror attacks. Fans are now remembering Brown's dedicated work that day, which won him an Edward R. Murrow Award, and his long career in broadcast journalism, upon news of his death on Sunday at the age of 76, reports CNN. His cause of death is unclear.

Brown started out in radio after attending the University of Minnesota, then plied his craft as a broadcast journalist for 15 years in Seattle, per ABC News. He then moved to anchor ABC's World News Now, World News Tonight Saturday, and Good Morning America's Sunday program, before working for CNN from 2001 to 2005, where he hosted NewsNight. He then served as the host for PBS' Wide Angle before taking a turn as a journalism professor at Arizona State University, per Newsweek.

Brown nabbed three Emmys over his career. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper described him as "a great writer and broadcaster" who was "thoughtful, funny, and diligent," per CNN. "So many people around the world remember his unflinching coverage on September 11, 2001, and in many ways the events that followed," one of his former producers, Molly Levinson, tells ABC. "There's no one like him and he will be deeply missed." (More news anchors stories.)