Bill Whitaker Biography

Fast Facts

• Awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1997
• Attended Berkeley in the late '70s, where he was a student of the school's graduate journalism program
• After earning a bachelor's degree from Hobart College in American history, he would go on to study African American studies at Boston University
• Following his educational career, he would accept his first on-air position with San Francisco's KQED in 1979
• Has done profiles of Barbra Streisand, Normal Lear and Gladys Knight
• Was named a "60 Minutes" correspondent in March 2014
• Following stints in North Carolina and Georgia, he would join CBS News in 1984
• Named CBS News' chief Tokyo correspondent from 1989 until relocating to Los Angeles in 1992
• Reported from Japan after the Fukushima nuclear disaster
• Covered the funeral of Nelson Mandela in South Africa