Former "60 Minutes" humorist Andy Rooney has died at age 92, one month after his final television essay was broadcast.
CBS confirmed that Rooney died Friday night in a New York City hospital of complications following an undisclosed minor surgery.
For more than 30 years, the longtime commentator pointed out everyday minutiae in the popular "60 Minutes" segment called "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney."
Fans of the popular newsmagazine came to rely on Rooney for wry, deadpan observations on life usually delivered from behind a desk that he is said to have made himself.
"I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," he told the Associated Press in 1998. "And they say, 'Hey, yeah!' And they like that."
Rooney announced his departure from "60 Minutes" last month, wrapping up his career at the newsmagazine with 1,097 essays under his belt.
"There's nobody like Andy and there never will be," CBS News chairman Jeff Fager said of Rooney's leaving.
Whether he was poking fun at advertisements or musing about "three-minute" rice, Rooney's folksy knack for turning commonplace things into humorous segments netted him a large, loyal fan base.
But sometimes Rooney's frank opinions got him into trouble and drew sharp criticism from those who disagreed with him.
A deluge of disapproving letters hit his desk when he condemned late "Nirvana" musician Kurt Cobain for committing suicide. An essay in which he said God told him that Rev. Pat Robertson and Mel Gibson were "whackos" was also widely criticized.
"I may have given the impression that I don't care what anyone else thinks but I do care, I care a lot," Rooney said in his final essay.
In some essays, Rooney even lightheartedly prodded his employer CBS over issues related to management and layoffs.
He began his media career working for newspapers, and covered the Second World War for the American military publication Stars and Stripes.
Rooney joined CBS in 1949, where he cut his teeth as a writer for various programs, such as "The Garry Moore" show.
The four-time Emmy award winner won one of his trophies for a report on the misrepresentation of black people in movies and history books.
Rooney joined "60 minutes" in 1978. In his final sign-off decades later, he said that he dreaded leaving his desk at the show.
"I wish I could do this forever, I can't though," he said.
