Ben Bradlee

Vice president and executive editor at the Washington Post when the newspaper published articles that exposed the Watergate scandal. The reports had enormous political effects, leading to government investigations, hearings before the U.S. Senate and criminal proceedings that forced Richard Nixon to resign the presidency. Mr. Bradlee is a Harvard graduate (1942) and began his career in journalism at the New Hampshire Sunday News. From 1948-1961 he wrote for the Washington Post and Newsweek. Mr. Bradlee worked as senior editor at the Post from 1961-1965. When he became editor he encouraged thorough investigative reporting. It was this type of in depth reporting that led to the Watergate scandal uncovering. Mr. Bradlee retired as executive editor of the Post in 1991 but remained vice president at-large. In 1995 he published his memoirs: A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. Mr. Bradlee and Sally Quinn maintained residences in St. Mary’s County, Md., in East Hampton, N.Y., and in Georgetown. Besides his wife, survivors include a son from his first marriage, Benjamin C. Bradlee Jr. of Boston; two children from his second marriage, Dominic Bradlee of Hydra, Greece, and Marina Murdock of Purcellville, Va.; a son from his third marriage, Quinn Bradlee of Washington; 10 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.