ROME -- Winston Burdett, a CBS correspondent who reported for the network from throughout the world for more than 35 years, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 79.
Burdett, who had lived in Rome since 1956, died at Villa Flaminia Clinic.
Burdett, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., graduated from Harvard College in 1933 and worked on the Brooklyn Eagle before joining CBS radio in 1940.
Burdett, a protege of Edward R. Murrow, covered the Middle East, Europe and Washington and was based in Rome from 1948 to 1951 and again from 1956 until he retired in 1978.
Burdett reported on the North African campaign, the Allied invasion of Southern France and the surrender of German forces in Italy during World War II, and later reported extensively on the Italian government and the installation of popes and other Vatican news.
He won an Overseas Press Club award in 1959 for reporting on the death of Pope Pius the XII and the election and installation of Pope John XXIII, and a Sigma Delta Chi Award in 1966 for distinguished service in journalism.
Burdett is survived by his second wife, the former Giorgina Nathan; a daughter, Cristina, of Turin; a son, Richard, of London; and four grandchildren.
His first wife, the former Lea Schiavi, died in 1942.
