Sam wrote:
I have to be honest, I never knew who the hell that was until I read that article. I never really watch TV news. 
It seems famous people die every year, it's just that some deaths are more notable than others. This year was particularly a notable year.
I'll try to answer all your questions about who he was. Basically, he was a news anchor who covered almost every important even from the 1st moon landing to Vietnam to all kinds of things. He was just around for a long time and became a very familiar news figure, comparable to Larry King or someone that old and notable

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Check out his Wiki page if you want more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite