Aaron Brown, former CNN anchor who led 9/11 coverage, dies at 76

American journalist and CNN anchor Aaron Brown delivers the news from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia October 9, 2001. Brown died on Sunday at the age of 76. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, the veteran broadcaster who was widely acclaimed for his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks, died Sunday at age 76, according to CNN.

Brown's television career began in Seattle, first as assistant night assignment editor at KING 5 beginning in 1976, then anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast at KIRO 7 in 1986. In 1991, he hosted a national nightly news show for ABC.

A decade later, he joined CNN to host “NewsNight.” The show had not yet launched on September 11, 2001, when a group of terrorists hijacked and crashed planes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

But Brown took action, delivering calm, incisive and candid reporting from the rooftop of CNN's Manhattan bureau. He became a guiding figure for millions of viewers during one of the most important days in American history, reporting live for 17 hours, according to CNN.

Former CNN anchor and longtime journalist Aaron Brown was widely praised for his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. He died Sunday at the age of 76, his family told CNN. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

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CNN anchor John Vause, who also reported from New York on 9/11, remembers Brown taking off his reporting hat when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

“When he was live on the air, he stopped and looked at it. And he paused. And he shared this moment where everyone was thinking, 'Holy shit. There's no no words,'” Vause said in a CNN report announcing Brown’s death.

Brown won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of the attacks.

Brown's colleagues praised him as “above all, a writer and a craftsman” with a “biting sense of humor.” He also stressed the importance of empathy in reporting, according to former CNN producer Amanda Turnbull.

“His narrative was driven by the facts, but his speech was always deeply human,” Turnbull said, according to CNN.

American journalist and CNN anchor Aaron Brown delivers the news from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on October 9, 2001. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

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Brown was born and raised in Minnesota. He hosted a radio show in Minneapolis before attending the University of Minnesota for about a year in 1966, according to the university, then joining the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.

Brown's departure from ABC was to lead CNN's primetime news show “NewsNight”, but in 2005 the network changed its lineup and Anderson Cooper replaced Brown's show.

Brown later taught journalism at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University.