WASHINGTON Legendary former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who oversaw reporting on the Watergate scandal that brought down US president Richard Nixon, died on Tuesday. He was 93.

Bradlee, who died of natural causes at his Washington home, leaves a lasting legacy at the Post and in the wider media, and has been hailed as a genius and for having “the courage of an army”. He was also a friend to John F. Kennedy.

President Barack Obama, who awarded Bradlee the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year, led the tributes, saying that for the newspaper man, “journalism was more than a profession — it was a public good vital to our democracy”. During Bradlee’s leadership of the Post from 1968 to 1991, he inspired reporters who “told stories that needed to be told — stories that helped us understand our world and one another a little bit better”, the president added.

His wife, former Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn, revealed last month Bradlee had been diagnosed with dementia.

Donald E. Graham, who served as publisher of the Post and was Bradlee’s boss, said: “Ben Bradlee was the best American newspaper editor of his time and had the greatest impact on his newspaper of any modern editor.” It was Graham’s mother, Katharine Graham, who was publisher of the Post when Bradlee charged young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with investigating the Watergate burglary.

The reporting uncovered a vast scheme of surveillance and dirty tricks, and the resulting coverage led to the impeachment and resignation of Nixon in 1974, and the prosecution of dozens of administration officials.

“Ben was a true friend and genius leader in journalism,” Bernstein and Woodward said in a joint statement on the Post website as news of his death emerged.

“His one unbending principle was the quest for the truth and the necessity of that pursuit. He had the courage of an army. “Bradlee’s reign as editor saw the Post win the Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate stories, and the respected newspaper also played a role in the successful legal challenge to the publication of the Pentagon Papers revealing the political maneuvers leading up to the Vietnam War.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014