Charles Bierbauer, a veteran CNN correspondent who later served as dean of the University of South Carolina’s journalism school, died August 29, 2025, at his home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. He was 83 years old.
Bierbauer joined CNN in 1981 as a defense correspondent covering the Pentagon before transitioning to become the network’s senior White House correspondent, a position he held for nine years. During his two-decade career at CNN, he covered the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, traveling with presidents to all 50 states and more than 30 nations.
The veteran journalist covered presidential campaigns between 1984 and 2000, as well as the Supreme Court. He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association from 1991 to 1992 and anchored CNN’s “Newsmaker Saturday,” a weekly show featuring interviews with top newsmakers, for a decade.
Bierbauer won an Emmy Award in 1997 for his coverage of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. His reporting career extended beyond domestic politics to international affairs, particularly during the Cold War era. Before joining CNN, he served as ABC News Moscow bureau chief beginning in 1978 and later as the network’s bureau chief in Bonn, Germany.
His international experience included coverage of all US-Soviet summits, starting in 1975 with President Gerald Ford and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev through the 1992 meeting between President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. He also worked in London, Bonn, and Vienna for Westinghouse Broadcasting earlier in his career.
A CNN spokesperson said Bierbauer was “a cherished member of the CNN family” who covered everything from the White House and Pentagon to the Supreme Court during his two decades with the network. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer credited Bierbauer as a mentor who inspired and helped him throughout assignments at the Pentagon and White House.
After retiring from CNN in 2001, Bierbauer transitioned to academia, becoming the first dean of the University of South Carolina’s newly merged College of Mass Communications and Information Studies in 2002. He served in this role until 2017, overseeing significant changes, including the 2015 relocation of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications from its former location under the Carolina Coliseum to a renovated three-story building near the university’s historic Horseshoe.
During his tenure as dean, Bierbauer helped elevate the program’s profile and modernize its facilities for the digital age. Doug Fisher, a former Associated Press reporter and retired journalism school instructor, indicated that Bierbauer was the right leader at the right time to accomplish the challenging move to the new building with all its required steps and hurdles.
Bierbauer’s academic work extended beyond administration. He moderated debates between high-profile political figures, brought prominent journalists to speak at the university, and maintained an open-door policy with students. Former student Josh Dawsey, now a Wall Street Journal reporter who won Pulitzer Prizes at The Washington Post, described spending hundreds of hours in Bierbauer’s office as an undergraduate, noting that the dean always offered constructive criticism and encouraged him to think more expansively about the world.
Born to parents with roots tracing back to 19th-century German revolutionaries and Cornish miners, Bierbauer began his journalism career as a radio reporter in his native Allentown, Pennsylvania, before writing for the local newspaper. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in Russian and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. The university recognized him as a distinguished alumnus and alumni fellow.
Bierbauer described himself as an introvert who enjoyed connecting with people, whether reaching millions through television or teaching students individually. His journalism career spanned over 50 years, with nearly 20 years in academia, including some overlap between both roles.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Susanne Marie Schafer, a former Associated Press journalist, and four children: Alec, Kari Braido, Craig, and Andrew. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and one great-grandson. A private family service will be held in the coming weeks.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the Charles Bierbauer Scholarship at the University of South Carolina. No cause of death was provided, though the family obituary noted that his generous heart gave out after a good, long life.