Charles Nicholas Quinn (July 28, 1930 – July 7, 2013) was an American journalist who reported forNBC News from 1962 until 1980.[1][2]
Quinn was born inUtica, New York.[2] He received abachelor's degree fromCornell University in 1951 and hismaster's degree injournalism fromColumbia University in 1954.[1][2] He served in the U.S. Army as aparatrooper from 1951 to 1953.[2]
In 1962, Quinn became a general assignmenttelevision reporter for NBC News.[2] He covered mayor political and social stories of the 1960s, including presidential campaigns, thecivil rights movement, along with news film editor Donald Swerdlow. as well as protests against the Vietnam War.[1] Quinn was present at theAmbassador Hotel inLos Angeles, coveringUnited States SenatorRobert F. Kennedy's1968 presidential campaign, on the night he wasassassinated. He was one of the first reporters to arrive at the scene of the shooting, telling television viewers, "He's lying here on the floor. Senator Kennedy has been shot. He's been shot...There’s blood on the floor."[2]
Quinn became theRome bureau chief for NBC News during the early 1970s.[2] He returned to the U.S. later during the 1970s to become NBC'scorrespondent atthe Pentagon.[2] In 1978, he moved to NBC's radio news bureau inWashington, D.C. as a chief correspondent andmanaging editor.[2]
Quinn left NBC News in 1980.[1] He then joined the now defunctIndependent Network News, where he worked as a correspondent for a short time.[2] Quinn was then hired by theAmerican Petroleum Institute for its public relations department, where he remained until his retirement in 1991.[2]
Charles Quinn died ofcongestive heart failure on July 7, 2013, at his home inCambridge, Maryland, at the age of 82.[2] He had moved to Cambridge fromAlexandria, Virginia, in 2003.[2]