Producer Don Hewitt (shown in this 2005 photo) died at the age of 86. (Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
He had been diagnosed with cancer.
Hewitt worked as producer or director for CBS legends Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards and Walter Cronkite but his strongest legacy was the television news magazine format on "60 Minutes" starting in 1968.
The show featured mini-documentaries segments based on investigative reporting by seasoned journalists like Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, Morley Safer and Harry Reasoner. "60 Minutes" proved to be a profitable and steady ratings winner for CBS and the magazine format was widely copied by other networks.
