'I want to leave while I still have all my marbles': Steve Kroft steps down from 60 Minutes after 30 seasons amid CBS News shakeup

  • Steve Kroft stepped down as host of 60 Minutes on Sunday after 30 seasons with the news magazine 
  • The 73-year-old host was the longest tenured member of the news team, a title that will now be passed to Lesley Stahl 
  • 'I want to leave while I still have all of my marbles, the energy to enjoy life and the curiosity to pursue some different things,' said Kroft
  • He famously interviewed Barack Obama 11 times and was the first to speak with Hillary Clinton about her husband's affairs 
  • John Dickerson will move to 60 Minutes from CB This Morning to replace Kroft 

It is the end of an era.

Steve Kroft announced on Sunday that he would be retiring from 60 Minutes, where he had been the longest-tenured news magazine host.

'As my good friend and colleague, Morley Safer advised me a few days before he passed away, "Don’t stay too long,"' said Kroft following his final report for the news magazine. 

'There are still some things I’d like to do that I haven’t done. I’m not getting any younger. I want to leave while I still have all of my marbles, the energy to enjoy life and the curiosity to pursue some different things.'

His departure means that Lesley Stahl is the lone member of the legendary lineup that carried the show for much of the last three decades, a group that included Andy Rooney, Safer, Kroft, Bob Simon, Christiane Amanpour, Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley.

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Farewell: Steve Kroft (above in 2017) stepped down as host of 60 Minutes on Sunday after 30 seasons with the news magazine

Farewell: Steve Kroft (above in 2017) stepped down as host of 60 Minutes on Sunday after 30 seasons with the news magazine

Legends: The 73-year-old host was the longest tenured member of the news team, a title that will now be passed to Lesley Stahl (l to r: Andy Rooney, Morley Safer, Kroft, Mike Wallace, executive producer Don Hewitt, Stahl, and Ed Bradley in 1993)

Legends: The 73-year-old host was the longest tenured member of the news team, a title that will now be passed to Lesley Stahl (l to r: Andy Rooney, Morley Safer, Kroft, Mike Wallace, executive producer Don Hewitt, Stahl, and Ed Bradley in 1993)

Kroft, 73, had been with the show for 30 seasons as host, starting in 1989. 

'From the moment Steve Kroft arrived at CBS News in 1980, he has been shot out of a cannon and wherever he landed his stories broke news, had depth, and a strong sense of humanity,' said Susan Zirinsky, the rently appointed CBS News' president and the program's senior executive producer.

'From Central America to a tour of duty in London, and back to New York, his destiny was clear - Kroft's investigative instincts and ability to unravel the most complex stories made him a perfect fit for the 60 Minutes team.'

Kroft sat down for a number of notable interviews with the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton. 

It was while defending her husband's extramarital affairs in a 60 Minutes interview that Clinton uttered her now famous retort: 'I'm not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sitting here because I love him, and I respect him.' 

As for Obama, Kroft sat down with him before, after and during his presidency, notching 11 interviews in total with the man. 

Kroft's absence will now be filled by John Dickerson, who is moving over from CBS This Morning. 

 

 

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